5-6 February Justice and Home Affairs informal

Date: 13/02/1997

ORGANISED crime and how to fight it topped the agenda at a two-day informal gathering of EU justice and interior ministers in the Dutch coastal resort of Noordwijk. Although they generally avoided questions of 'third pillar' reform - now the subject of intense negotiations at the Intergovernmental Conference - ministers considered how existing structures could be better used to combat the growth of international crime. While no concrete decisions were taken, the discussions reflected a growing belief in all member states in the importance of EU-level cooperation.

WELCOMING a report from the new high-level group set up by the December Dublin summit, ministers called for greater analysis of how organised crime works, looking at the structure of criminal organisations as well as the offences they commit. Ministers also considered how well their police, customs and judicial authorities were cooperating, and how successfully existing anti-crime instruments were being implemented. All agreed that more needed to be done, especially in the light of a recent report on organised crime which highlighted the EU's continued lack of coordination.

MONEY-laundering emerged as a top contender for new Union action since it would target the criminals' raison d'être - profit - rather than how they make it. Ministers also debated closer relations with central and eastern Europe, which is emerging as a key base for organised crime.

MINISTERS also discussed the criminal intelligence agency Europol and its powers. Germany supported giving it a tougher role, although mainly at the instigation of Chancellor Helmut Kohl rather than the interior ministry in Bonn. Dutch Justice Minister Winnie Sorgdrager downplayed the idea, stressing that last year's reports of a Euro-FBI had been exaggerated. Were Europol to have any operational role, it seems, it would only be in support of - and at the invitation of - national police forces.

JUSTICE Commissioner Anita Gradin used the opportunity to criticise member states for their failure to ratify a host of key criminal law conventions, including those on fraud, customs cooperation and extradition as well as Europol. “If you do not do this, the criminals will find the countries with the loopholes which will help them get away,” she said. Sorgdrager added that she would put pressure on EU member states to ratify the Europol Convention by the end of the year.

FRENCH Justice Minister Alain Toubon called for greater Union crime-fighting powers in general, saying: “Over the next few years, we should progressively reach a common space of free movement for people and goods, but at the same time security should be increased.” His words reflected a change of heart in France over judicial sovereignty, which it used to defend fiercely. But the UK continues to resist the introduction of any new measures until the EU has successfully implemented existing ones.

DURING lunch, ministers discussed the repatriation of refugees to the former Yugoslavia, with Germany outlining plans to send a number of people home before the end of the year. Since most refugees do not want to return, involuntary repatriation is looking increasingly likely. Gradin told ministers of a Commission pilot project, worth 350,000 ecu, to train small entrepreneurs in preparation for their return home. She also informed them of a new 10-million-ecu budget line created by the European Parliament to aid voluntary returnees.