4 European Monitoring Centre on Racism
and Xenophobia
| (24803)
12135/03
COM(03) 483
| Commission Communication on the activities of and draft Council Regulation on the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.
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| Legal base | Articles 13(1), 284 and 308 EC; unanimity; consultation
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| Department | Home Office |
| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 16 December 2003
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 63-xxxviii (2002-03), paragraph 6 (19 November 2003)
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| To be discussed in Council | No date fixed
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| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information awaited
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Background
4.1 Council Regulation (EC) No.1035/97 of 2 June 1997 established
a European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. The main
task of this Centre is to collect objective, reliable and comparable
data at European level on the phenomena of racism, xenophobia
and anti-Semitism to help the Community and its Member States
to take account of their effects when they take measures or formulate
courses of action within their respective spheres of competence.
In October 2000 the Commission forwarded a progress report to
European Community institutions on the activities of the Centre.
Subsequently the Commission organised an external evaluation of
the Centre which was completed in July 2002.
4.2 The document contains a Commission Communication
and a proposal to recast Council Regulation (EC) No. 1035/97 following
the external evaluation organised by the Commission. The Draft
Council Regulation implements the Commission's conclusions and
recommendations based on the external evaluation study and, in
addition, seeks to amend the earlier Council Regulation governing
the centre's activities in several ways. The amendments are aimed
at promoting close co-operation between Member States, strengthening
the Centre's focus on the collection of relevant data, granting
the Centre improved flexibility in deciding how it organises its
activities, adapting the Centre's organisational structure to
the demands of enlargement and resolving some legal and other
uncertainties in the present Council Regulation. Neither the Commission
Communication nor the Regulation envisages any increase in the
overall funds at the disposal of the Centre.
4.3 When we last considered the document we agreed
with the Government's reservations about the proposed measures.
In addition, we asked the Minister to define what was meant by
"expertise in racism" and also asked her for further
information about the extent to which the Monitoring Centre's
data or other services had been used by bodies in the United Kingdom.
The Minister's letter
4.4 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at
the Home Office (Caroline Flint) has responded to our questions,
in her letter of 16 December 2003, as follows:
"The Committee asked for a definition of what
was meant by the term 'expertise in racism'. This was intended
to be a shorthand expression for one of the required criteria
for members of the EUMC Management Board specified in Article
8 of the Commission's draft Regulation, namely that Board Members
shall be 'persons with appropriate experience in the analysis
of the phenomena of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and related
intolerance…' The Government agrees with the Commission that
this should be one of the required criteria for board members.
"The Committee also asked about the extent to
which the Centre's data or other services have been used by bodies
in the United Kingdom. This is difficult for us to assess. The
EUMC has a user friendly website, which contains their reports
and a searchable database allowing the user to access details
of reports, organisations and events relating to the Centre's
area of work — potentially a useful research tool. However,
the Government believes that the usefulness of the Centre's output
is reduced by the length of time it takes to produce reports.
By the time the reports are published, the data on which they
are based are often out of date, thus limiting their usefulness.
If the Centre can address this problem we believe that there
is the potential for their reports to be useful sources of reference
on data and good practice across the EU."
Conclusion
4.5 We thank the Minister for her answers to our
questions. We share her reservations about the length of time
it takes the Monitoring Centre to produce its reports and would
be grateful if the Government could express its concerns when
the document is discussed. We shall continue to hold the document
under scrutiny until the expected publication of a revised draft
Regulation.
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