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European Parliament Question Time to the Council
July 6, 2005 5:15 PM
By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP and Douglas Alexander MP (representing the British Presidency of the EU)
By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP and Douglas Alexander MP (representing the British Presidency of the EU)
Sarah Ludford's Question:
"The European Council Declaration on Combating Terrorism of 25th March 2004 required Member States to implement 4 Framework Decisions and 2 Decisions essential to the fight against terrorism, by June 2004. It also called for implementation of a further Framework Decision and for ratification of the Mutual Assistance Convention and Protocol and 3 Europol Convention Protocols, by December 2004.
One year on, can the Council confirm that all Member States have complied with these obligations? If not, what action is the Council taking to ensure full implementation of these measures, and what conclusions does it draw on the gap between rhetoric and concrete progress in tackling security and crime threats?"
Douglas Alexander, President-in-Office of the Council:
"The state of play of the implementation of the legislative instruments relevant in the fight against terrorism is set out in Document 8211/05 Add. 2 Rev. 1, which will be distributed to the European Parliament.
The tables indicate that, although not all instruments have been fully implemented, considerable progress has been made since last year. The Council plans to update the tables contained in the aforementioned document regularly and, on that basis, to discuss with all Member States the state of play with regard to implementation."
Sarah Ludford:
In January the Commission reported that only three Member States had fully implemented the Framework Decision of June 2002 on joint investigation teams by the deadline, not including the UK.
The Commission said it encountered many difficulties in gathering the relevant information. Is it not time to stop the tradition whereby the Council does not name and shame those countries not implementing the Framework Decision? Is it not also necessary that the Council take advantage of the provisions in the current Treaty to convert the hopelessly ineffective as well as undemocratic intergovernmental provisions in the law enforcement area to Community competence so that suitable enforcements of the law are agreed by the Member States? Otherwise, how are we ever going to combat crime and terrorism?
Douglas Alexander, President-in-Office of the Council.
"Madam President, I note the tenor of the question. The specific matter raised is an issue that I will certainly look into in the course of the Presidency. I would say, however, on the general question of why the European Union has not made further progress on counter-terrorism legislation, that substantial preparatory work on counter-terrorism legislation has been carried out under previous presidencies. We anticipate that we will be able to agree a framework decision on exchange of information and the European Evidence Warrant under our Presidency.
The framework decision on data retention has been held up by concerns about its legal base and by the lack of a common understanding between Member States."
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