Justitieministers staan voor moeilijke beslissingen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A preliminary debate on Nazi symbols and a long-running spat over the EU's top police official are amongst the subjects to be discussed by justice and home affairs ministers on Thursday (24 February).

The controversy over who should take over as Director of the increasingly-powerful Europol pits four big member states - Italy, France, Germany and Spain - against each other.

Moreover, the search for a successor to the German Jürgen Storbeck has run for over a year and proved too controversial for the Italian as well as the Dutch Presidency to resolve.

Berlin wants to keep the post in German hands and has nominated Max-Peter Ratzel, a senior official at the German Federal Criminal Police Office.

Paris is pushing for Gilles Leclair, director of the French anti-terrorism co-ordination unit whilst Rome is lobbying for Emanuele Marotta from its interior ministry.

The current deputy director, Spaniard Mariano Simancas, is also in the hunt. He has been nominal leader of the body since Mr Storbeck's departure on 30 June 2004.

Meanwhile, the Commission is showing increasing impatience to get the issue settled. A spokesman for Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini i told journalists on Wednesday (23 February), "the fight against organised crime could do without such a delay".

But Presidency sources said there were as yet "no indications" as to who would scoop the job and that Luxembourg's justice minister Luc Frieden will be consulting with ministers at the meeting.

"All are capable of carrying out the task", said one official, adding, "it's no secret that this is a sensitive issue". However, the Presidency hopes for some progress.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the decision must be taken unanimously.

Economic migration

The Luxembourg Presidency, however, expects some impetus to be given at the meeting to the topic of economic migration, where ministers will discuss a "white paper" from the European Commission setting out ideas on how best to tackle the issue.

Economic migration - which refers to people coming from outside the EU to seek work legally for economic reasons - is seen as an increasingly important subject given the rapidly ageing EU population.

With more and more people dropping out of the labour force due to old age, the EU desperately needs workers to replace them.

And although decisions on migration will remain in the hands of national governments, the Commission intends to consult other parties on how best to formulate what Brussels terms "a common immigration policy in a wider sense".

The ministers will also discuss a proposal from the European Commission for an "early warning system" for governments to exchange information about immigration policies with other member states.

This was prompted by a decision by Spain to allow an amnesty for its illegal immigrants, which caused raised eyebrows in the Netherlands and Germany.

Nazi symbols

The meeting will also give ministers their first chance to air views on the issue of Nazi symbols, which was catapulted to prominence by the UK's Prince Harry who wore a swastika and Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party.

This discussion will take place within the framework of a broader debate on an EU law against racism and xenophobia which has been, according to one diplomat "in the Council's drawer" for several months due to Italy's reticence to agree to the legislation.