Zweedse ministers zien Stockholm Programma als kans voor een veiliger en open Europa (en)

The European Commission today presented a communication on the ‘Stockholm Programme’ on the direction of EU cooperation on justice and home affairs up to the end of 2014.

“We want the Swedish Presidency to contribute to a safer and more open Europe. The Commission’s communication lays a good foundation for the negotiations with the other Member States and with the European Parliament this autumn,” say Minister for Justice Beatrice Ask and Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias Billström in a statement.

 “We will work for an ambitious Stockholm Programme with a good balance between fighting crime effectively and protection for the privacy of the individual,” Ms Ask continues.

“One of the main tasks in the area of asylum and migration will be to work for a common asylum system that is legally secure, accessible and based on solidarity between EU Member States,” Mr Billström continues.

The EU’s work in the area of justice and home affairs (JHA) is organised into five-year working programmes. The first was adopted in Tampere in 1999. The current Hague Programme was adopted in autumn 2004 and expires in December 2009. A new programme for the period 2010–2014 is therefore due to be adopted during the Swedish Presidency and will cover police and customs cooperation, rescue services, criminal and civil law cooperation, asylum, migration and visa policy. The working programme will be formally adopted by the EU heads of state and government in the European Council.

The Swedish Presidency of the EU intends to devote the informal ministerial meeting in Stockholm (15–17 July 2009) entirely to the Stockholm Programme. The Programme will then be dealt with in the JHA Council on 30 November to 1 December and in the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) on 7–8 December before it is adopted at the European Council on 10–11 December.