| At Tampere in 1999 the European Council approved a programme of action for creating an "area of freedom, security and justice", covering civil and criminal justice, visas, asylum and immigration, and police and customs cooperation. The Commission's Communication assesses progress in the first five years and sets out priorities for the next five. Many of these priorities relate to matters which are at the core of national sovereignty and also directly affect the lives of individual citizens. The European Council will be asked to endorse the next five-year programme in December.
The Commission considers that substantial progress has been made on most aspects of justice and home affairs since 1999, but that the original ambitions of Tampere have been hampered by institutional constraints and sometimes by lack of sufficient political consensus. It regards the requirement for unanimity as a particular problem.
The Government supports the continuation of the programme for five more years, noting that "practical cooperation between the police, courts and immigration and customs services has already made a real difference to people's lives".
However, the Commission does not evaluate the practical benefits of the measures already adopted; nor does it state what practical benefits it expects from the priorities proposed for the next five years. We consider that Member States should withhold commitment from the programme until they have been able to examine such a statement.
We believe it bodes ill for the future if, on such sensitive matters, the Commission envisages reliance on qualified majority voting to impose on Member States legislation to which they are opposed.
Visas, asylum and immigration
The Commission proposes an integrated border management system and visa policy, including a European Corps of Border Guards, biometric identifiers in travel documents, a common policy on management of migration flows and a common policy on European asylum.
The Government broadly supports the Commission's proposals, but opposes the proposed border guards and is not convinced of the need for further harmonisation of asylum policy.
We regard operational cooperation as necessary for the effective management of asylum and immigration, but agree with the Government on the border guards and on asylum policy.
Civil and criminal justice
The Commission proposes "a European judicial area" respecting the legal traditions and systems of the Member States. It says that this will be based on mutual recognition rather than total harmonisation, but that mutual recognition requires a basis of shared principles and minimum standards. It wishes to avoid a situation where Member States have separate
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