Crime high on enlargement hit list

Date: 11/12/1997

By Simon Coss

FEARS of an explosion in drug trafficking, prostitution and organised crime could be one of the biggest stumbling blocks on the road to eastward enlargement, EU law and order ministers are warning.

Following a meeting last week between justice and home affairs ministers from the Union and their central and east European counterparts, Luxembourg's Marc Fischbach underlined the size of the task ahead.

Referring to the intergovernmental 'third pillar' of the Maastricht Treaty, which deals with such sensitive issues as immigration, terrorism, drugs policy and the fight against organised crime, Fischbach said this would be “the most difficult area for negotiations in terms of adhesion”.

The decision on which of the applicants - ten former Iron Curtain countries plus Cyprus - will be able to embark on 'fast-track' accession negotiations is due to be taken at this weekend's EU summit in Luxembourg.

The European Commission favours opening talks with five of the central and east Europeans - Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Poland - plus Cyprus.

While these talks proceed, a pan-European Conference will be launched in February to bring together all the applicant states including, possibly, Turkey.

The UK, which as holder of the EU presidency for the first half of next year will be responsible for launching the conference, says justice and home affairs will figure prominently on the expansion agenda.

“It would be foolish to ignore these matters in the enlargement negotiations,” said one UK diplomat.

But just how much progress will be made remains to be seen, with pessimists suggesting that existing EU member states' track record in this area does not augur well for the future.

European justice ministries are notoriously reticent about sharing information with their Union partners, let alone with governments which were Cold War adversaries less than a decade ago.

The most recent set-back came at a meeting of EU justice ministers last week when governments failed to agree on a common definition of organised crime.

Fourteen countries managed to draw up a list of common criteria, but their efforts were vetoed by Spain. Justice and home affairs experts at the European Commission say that Madrid felt the definition on the table was too strict. It is believed that Spain sometimes uses its current laws on organised crime to arrest suspected terrorists.

“It was a great disappointment to everyone in the room that the definition was blocked,” said one official.

Without such a common interpretation, it will not only prove extremely difficult for member states to tackle cross-border crime within the Union but will also hinder efforts to draw up agreements with the applicant countries.

It will be hard for eastern European governments to sign up to fight organised crime if it is not clear what they are fighting against.

Despite these political setbacks, the European Commission is continuing with practical schemes aimed at helping the candidate countries improve their law and order systems.

When, in July, it published its long-awaited avis (opinion) on the central and east European states' readiness to join the Union, the Commission said that all of the applicants needed to improve their judicial systems.

The EU-funded Phare programme is currently running around 40 projects aimed, for instance, at training law enforcement officials and reforming judicial institutions. It is hoped that this number will be more than doubled in 1998.

The Commission also argues that when the Europol police agency finally becomes fully operational, probably in the middle of next year, it will be easier for the Union and eastern Europeans to work together on justice and home affairs issues.