"Trio-voorzitterschap" van ministers van Justitie en Binnenlandse Zaken komt met gemeenschappelijk werkprogramma (en)

Germany, Portugal and Slovenia agree on joint work programme

For the first time, three Member States, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, have agreed on a joint work programme for their EU presidencies over the next 18 months. This trio of presidencies started on 1 January 2007 with Germany's EU presidency, to be followed by Portugal and Slovenia.

Ahead of the Informal Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs which starts in the evening, representatives of the trio presidency, the interior ministers Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, Antonio Costa and Dragutin Mate and justice ministers Brigitte Zypries, Alberto Bernardes Costa and Lovro Sturm, discussed their work at a meeting which also included the vice president of the European Commission, Franco Frattini.

"For the first time in its history, the European Union will have a trio presidency. For us, it is both a special opportunity and a special obligation," said Federal Interior Minister Schäuble. "This new form of cooperation offers the chance to set balanced European policy in the interest of all the Member States. It brings together states of different sizes, from different regions of Europe, thereby ensuring policy continuity in a larger European Union," Federal Justice Minister Zypries added.

The key objectives of the trio presidency for the next 18 months:

Strengthening FRONTEX and ensuring access to the Schengen Information System

One important aim of the first trio presidency is to strengthen the European border protection agency FRONTEX, in order to enhance protection of the external borders. Opening borders to the new members also depends on their rapid inclusion in the Schengen Information System, which we will work hard to achieve. Due not least to Portugal's determined initiative, actively supported by Slovenia, on behalf of an overhauled Schengen Information System ("SIS one 4 all"), the European home affairs ministers were able to agree at the Council in early December that this should be technically possible by late 2007. If all other conditions are fulfilled, this will allow checks at the European Union's internal borders to be discontinued from 31 December 2007. - A truly secure door is one that can be left open.

Improving police cooperation and counter-terrorism

Germany, Portugal and Slovenia want to press forward in the fight against terrorism and cross-border crime in the European Union. To do so, we must improve police cooperation. Our aim is, first, to strengthen existing institutions such as the European police office Europol. For example, with a Europol joint operation against child pornography, it was possible to search homes and arrest several persons simultaneously in 12 EU countries. We want Europol to be responsible for fighting all forms of serious, cross-border crime. Europol should also provide effective assistance in rolling up terrorist networks before they have a chance to act, for example by monitoring terrorist activity on the Internet more closely.

Strengthening citizens' rights

Creating an area of freedom, security and justice also entails protecting and securing civil liberties. Effective judicial cooperation in criminal matters means that each Member State must have confidence in the justice system of the other EU Member States. We want to strengthen this confidence by defining certain minimum rights in criminal proceedings which will be guaranteed to persons in investigative and court proceedings in all Member States. For this reason, there should be a Framework Decision which sets minimum guarantees determining when suspects must be provided with an interpreter or defence counsel and how to ensure that suspects are informed of their rights. 

Further, the trio presidency plans to resume the stalled negotiations over the Framework Decision on combating racism and xenophobia. The goal here is to achieve a minimum level of harmonization in the criminal codes of the Member States. Above all, this involves criminalizing the dissemination of racist and xenophobic statements, for example the public incitement to violence and hatred or the denial or trivialization of genocide with racist or xenophobic motives.

Fighting illegal immigration

Another major focus will be a global, balanced approach to migration. In this context, fighting illegal migration and human trafficking is especially important. Through dialogue with migrants' countries of origin, we have to find a way to improve local living conditions, to manage legal immigration while taking into account the different labour market conditions in the Member States, and to take rigorous action at the European level against illegal immigration. Human smugglers must not be allowed to profit from the misery of others. The ministerial conference on migration issues planned in Portugal for November 2007 between the EU Member States and the Mediterranean states (EUROMED) will be a valuable tool for intensifying the dialogue with third countries.

Intercultural dialogue

Our trio presidency also intends to focus on integration and intercultural dialogue. In particular, we want to do a better job of communicating with the more than 15 million Muslims living in Europe. Here, the Member States can learn from each other. In May 2007, we will hold a European conference on integration to share best practices with regard to issues of integration and intercultural dialogue. On questions of ensuring security, managing immigration and integrating migrants, Europe can provide answers that would not be possible at the national level.

Increasing legal certainty for citizens

For Europe's citizens, crossing national borders has become part of everyday life, and they expect it to be governed by a dependable and predictable legal framework. For anyone who signs a contract with cross-border relevance, it must be clear which national law applies in case of a dispute. Clarity is also needed with regard to non-contractual claims, such as when a citizen of one Member States is injured in a traffic accident in another Member State. For this reason, we will work for rapid progress on the Rome I and II Regulations.

The number of bi-national marriages and partnerships is also increasing. Spouses must know which law will apply in case of divorce and its consequences. The question of which law is applicable should not depend upon which Member State the spouses wish to get divorced in. This does not involve harmonizing substantive law, but rather issuing rules regarding international jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of court decisions, as well as achieving uniformity in so-called conflict-of-law rules. Conflict-of-law rules determine which national law will be applicable to a specific case with international aspects. The trio presidency therefore supports the work on the Rome III Regulation.

Strengthening the justice system and practical cooperation / e-justice

As the borders within Europe become more permeable, cross-border cooperation among judicial authorities must become closer. This applies above all to law enforcement.

The trio presidency has therefore set the goal of taking forward a Framework Decision on cross-border supervision of probation.

We will also strive to improve the exchange of excerpts from criminal registers. Based on experience gathered from a pilot project initiated by Germany, France, Belgium and Spain, we would like a Framework Decision to create the legal basis for sharing register information between Member States electronically rather than in paper form as is currently the case. In this way, we hope to reduce informational deficits in law enforcement and in evaluating criminal offenders The goal is to create a network of national registers without having to build up a new central registry unit for all of Europe.

Further, the trio presidency has set the goal of taking greater advantage of possibilities offered by information technology in other fields of judicial cooperation as well. In a European area of freedom, security and justice, with permeable borders and a variety of cross-border activities, effective access to justice must not be blocked by EU-internal barriers in information technology. Our goal is to achieve further practical progress on IT use in cross-border judicial procedures in Europe and in structuring work on European standards.