Fight against racism moves from words to deeds

Date: 20/06/1996

AFTER a decade of largely symbolic protest, European governments are finally set to translate their commitment to fight racism and xenophobia into action.

Besides an agreement to set up a European observatory of racist and xenophobic activities, Union leaders are expected to use this weekend's summit meeting in Florence to proclaim 1997 as the European Year Against Racism - an initiative which EU officials insist will lead to more than just to a flurry of well-meaning declarations.

However, as with all other summit business, agreement hinges on the UK dropping its beef-crisis veto.

London's obstruction policy prevented the proposal for an anti-racism year from being approved at a meeting of home affairs ministers earlier this month, despite British assurances that the UK did not oppose the plan in principle.

With planning still under way - details are to be finalised before the summer break in August - only broad outlines of the planned activities have emerged so far.

According to officials, the Commission is currently working on a three-pronged strategy. The aim is to highlight existing projects, trigger new activities and set up seminars for people working in this area to come together and exchange views and experiences.

“It will be the first time that Union member states will systematically exchange information about what they are doing in this field,” said one official.

Assuming the project is approved, public awareness campaigns will be used to spread knowledge about the positive contribution many immigrants make to the Union's economic and cultural life.

The EU's activities will be financed from a budget of 6 million ecu, 1.3 million of which is to be spent on preparatory work this year. Coordinating committees in the member states will oversee the work at national level, while an ad hoc group of experts will be set up to assist the Commission's own small team of officials.

While officials hope that successful initiatives fostered under the banner of the anti-racism year will be continued after 1997, the European observatory of racist and xenophobic phenomena should ensure the political pressure to confront these issues does not fade away once the year is over.

Many officials acknowledge that the initial pressure for EU action in this field came from MEPs, with governments taking years to translate the parliamentary impetus into action.

“Basically, we are responding to an old wish list the European Parliament drew up years ago,” said one Union official.

Meanwhile, few EU diplomats were placing any bets this week on whether an agreement could be struck at the Florence summit to end the long-running dispute over the Europol Convention.

In the absence of any clear indication from British officials as to how UK Prime Minister John Major would respond to the insistent pressure of his partners, Brussels-based officials from other member states were forced to interpret the nuances of British diplomacy.

“At the last Council meeting, UK Home Affairs Minister Michael Howard said he would continue to examine the problem. You might read this is a good sign,” said one diplomat, adding: “On the other hand, the British have never given any indication that they would actually sign anything.”

With Union leaders having solemnly committed themselves at Cannes last June to find a solution to the Europol conflict by the Florence summit, the pressure on Major to agree to a compromise allowing the ECJ to oversee Europol's operation will be stronger than ever.

In the face of the UK's persistent refusal to surrender judicial control over Europol to the Luxembourg judges, the only solution - barring a renegotiation of the whole Europol Convention to exclude the UK ltogether - seems to be for London to negotiate a British 'opt-out' of the ECJ's unitary legal supervision.

In the face of persistent UK opposition, some European ministers - such as Germany's IGC negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer - have raised the prospect of excluding the UK from the fledgling agency altogether.

But as officials point out, this would not be the easy way out. Apart from the implications for Europol's efficiency, “the whole convention would have to be renegotiated”, said one diplomat.