Appendix 1: report on Council meeting
A reply concerning a recent Council meeting is published
below.
Letter from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State at the Home Office (Caroline Flint) to the Chairman of
the Committee
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS COUNCIL, BRUSSELS, 30
MARCH 2004
I am writing to inform you of the outcome of the
Justice & Home Affairs Council that took place in Brussels
on the 30 March. Cathy Jamieson, the Scottish Minister for Justice,
and I represented the United Kingdom.
COUNCIL AGENDA
A points
The list of A points was adopted as in document 7736/04
PTS A 15 and ADD1, copies of which are enclosed. [Not printed]
POLICE & JUDICIAL CO-OPERATION
Confiscation Orders
There was further discussion of the outstanding reservations
on the Draft Framework Decision on the Application of the Principle
of Mutual Recognition to Confiscation Orders. The UK supports
the text but two Member States remained unable to agree it at
the Council.
VICTIMS
On the Proposal for a Council Directive to Provide
Minimum Standards of Compensation to Victims of Crime, I restated
our continued opposition to the use of an Article 308 legal base
to create minimum standards. Only one other Member State supported
me. Other Member States argued that Article 308 provided a legitimate
legal base and were prepared to support a slightly amended version
of the latest Presidency text. The Presidency therefore concluded
that, subject to two Parliamentary Scrutiny Reserves, including
the UK's, the Council had reached a "general approach"
to the Presidency compromise, which will remove the criteria for
minimum standards but does require Member States to establish
compensation schemes for victims. The Government will be writing
to the Scrutiny Committees in more detail on this point.
TERRORISM
The new Counter-Terrorism Co-ordinator (Gijs de Vries)
gave his first thoughts on where he needed to focus his work.
He saw these as working in the Council on policy-making, operational
co-operation, intelligence sharing and threat analysis. He will
present a detailed job specification to the June European Council.
Under Any Other Business in the Mixed Committee the
Presidency also gave a readout of the special JHA Council on terrorism
on 19 March.
EUROPOL
There was no decision on the appointment of the next
Director of Europol, which will now be discussed further at the
April JHA Council.
ASYLUM & IMMIGRATION
Qualification Directive
Following discussion of the last few remaining concerns
of one Member State on the Directive on the Qualification and
Status of Third Country Nationals and Stateless Persons as Refugees
or as Persons who otherwise need International Protection (latest
text 7728/04 Asile 18), political agreement was reached. I warmly
welcomed this.
PROCEDURES DIRECTIVE
The Presidency emphasised the challenges the Council
still faced if it was to reach a Political Agreement on the Council
Directive on Minimum Standards on Procedures in Member States
for Granting and Withdrawing Refugee Status by the Amsterdam treaty
deadline of 1st May. The key outstanding issues remained safe
countries of origin, safe third countries and appeals. It therefore
proposed to adopt a "streamlined" approach, which would
leave Member States a greater degree of discretion on safe third
countries and appeals (set out in 7729/04 ASILE 19). The Commission
supported the Presidency's approach as the only means of reaching
agreement on the Directive by the end of April.
I was also broadly supportive of the Presidency compromise
proposals on safe third countries and appeals and I promised to
work with the Presidency to find solutions to the outstanding
issues. However, I emphasised that the UK would not sign up to
the Directive at any price. In particular, we wanted to safeguard
our domestic approach to designation of safe countries of origin,
as this is a key element in the reform of the UK's asylum system.
Responding to comments from other Member States,
which showed that there was not consensus on the criteria for
designation of safe countries of origin, the Presidency concluded
that difficulties remained and that all delegations would have
to show flexibility to maximise the chances of agreement at the
April JHA Council.
STUDENTS & RESEARCHERS
The Council reached a general approach on the Proposal
for a Council Directive on the Conditions of Admission of Third-country
Nationals for the Purpose of Studies, Pupil Exchange, Unremunerated
Training or Voluntary Service (a measure into which the UK has
not opted). The Commission also presented its proposal for a Council
Directive and two Recommendations on the Admission of Scientific
Researchers to the EU. As these measures concern legal immigration
the UK has not opted in and I did not contribute to the discussion.
MEETING BETWEEN MINISTERS OF THE MEMBER STATES
AND NORWAY AND ICELAND IN MIXED COMMITTEE
Advance Passenger Information
Following acceptance of UK proposals on data retention
and sharing and the lifting of one Member States' General Reserve,
the Council reached a General Approach on the Spanish Initiative
for a Directive on the Obligation of Carriers to Communicate Passenger
Data. This was subject to Parliamentary Scrutiny Reservations
from two Member States, including the UK. The Presidency reminded
the Council of the need to adopt the measure before 1 May 2004.
EUROPEAN BORDER AGENCY
It was agreed that the location of the Agency would
be decided by unanimity at a future date. Various Member States
lifted their linguistic reserves and two other Member States indicated
that their Parliamentary Scrutiny Reserves were also likely to
be lifted soon. I thanked the Presidency for its hard work in
securing a basis for our limited participation in the Agency and
undertook to work constructively with it. However, I reiterated
the view that the UK had the legal right to participate fully
in the adoption of the Regulation.
The next JHA Council will take place in Luxembourg
on 29-30 April 2004.
5 April 2004
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