Can Frattini bring justice, freedom and security?

By David Cronin

Date: 19/05/05

Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for justice, freedom and security, is juggling three policy areas that sometimes seem more conflicting than complementary.

Last week he published a ten-point action plan on implementing The Hague Programme, the EU's blueprint for greater co-operation in justice and home affairs. It will, he admits, be a crucial challenge to find an "appropriate balance" between shielding Europe from terrorism and respecting basic human rights.

Frattini has pledged to make it his priority to develop a comprehensive strategy on respect for citizens' rights. The first step is to convert the EU monitoring centre on racism and xenophobia in Vienna into a fundamental rights agency.

The Commission is to map out a proposed mandate for the body next Wednesday (25 May). Although the European Parliament has urged that its monitoring activities should cover both the EU and neighbouring countries, Frattini says it should be limited to monitoring developments within the Union.

As well as the question of geographical scope, Frattini is in discussions about what he calls the agency's "political border". Terry Davis, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, is among those who have sought a clear demarcation between the various bodies in Europe, monitoring adherence to democratic standards and human rights. The 46-nation Council of Europe, the 25-nation EU and the 55-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe are all involved in such activities as observing elections.

The tension between fighting terrorism and respecting individual rights is recurrent in the field of data retention. The Parliament is challenging an EU-US accord on passenger name record (PNR) details. Frattini expects that the European Court of Justice will deliver its verdict on the case in September.

MEPs have been asking about an incident last week when US authorities prevented a Mexico-bound KLM flight from entering American airspace after examining data about the passengers on board (the plane had to return to the Netherlands). According to Frattini, who was previously Italy's foreign minister in Silvio Berlusconi's government, the incident is a bilateral matter between America and Mexico and is unrelated to the 2004 EU-US PNR accord.

"The problem is we don't have a super-judge for data protection around the world," he says. "Europe is not and cannot be a super-judge outside Europe."

The right to privacy is enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and is recognised too in the EU constitution. Frattini says he is adamant that EU data protection rules are respected in the implementation of the PNR agreement.

"I'm very close friends with the US," he says. "On the other hand, they must understand that we must respect our European Charter on Fundamental Rights. For example, we demand full information about the purposes of collecting data. We also demand the power of knowing what is the final destination of the data processed."

Frattini rejects suggestions that the development of databases of biometric indicators, such as fingerprints and eye-prints, will erode principles of privacy and data protection.

"If we want to fight against terrorism and organised crime, we must include biometrics in travel documents and visa documents," he insists.

Frattini will be presenting a proposal to his fellow commissioners in a matter of weeks for a law to make telecommunications firms retain details of all telephone calls and faxes and emails sent in the EU. This step is being strongly resisted by the telecoms industry, civil libertarians and MEPs.

On immigration, Frattini is to unveil details of pilot "regional protection programmes" in July. Their declared purpose will be to provide protection to immigrants before they leave for the EU. The commissioner expects that one will be in Africa's Great Lakes region and another in Ukraine, Georgia or Belarus.

The details of the schemes are still under consideration, but his aides are keen to distance the plan from one for 'processing centres' suggested by Tony Blair's UK government in 2003.

In March, Frattini was berated by human rights groups for not speaking out against Italy's expulsion of 180 migrants from the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to Libya. The UN High Commission for Refugees felt that this contravened the 1951 Refugee Convention, which saysthat each claim for asylum should be assessed individually.

"In the Mediterranean, Italy is probably the most exposed country," he says. "We should consider that the principle of solidarity will lead to European help for Italy, Malta, Spain and other countries under pressure [from immigration]. On the other hand, respect for the humanity and dignity of illegal people is extremely important."

The question of the EU signing an accord on managing the migratory flows with Muammar Gaddafi's government has been broached. The UNHCR has urged circumspection on this matter. Unlike the EU, Libya has never signed up to the refugee convention, it points out, so there is no common legal base between the two sides.

Frattini views Libya's accession to the convention as a prerequisite for an accord. "Of course, we need Libya on board but there are political conditions. I don't like the blame-and-shame method. I would prefer to help Libya. It has thousands and thousands of kilometres of borders in the desert with central African countries. How can we manage these without equipment, without police assistance, without training? We should understand that if we want Libya on board, we should help Libya to do that. But we should be very firm on principles."

Article takes a look at the agenda of European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, Franco Frattini.