It is only just over five years since the European Union decided
to expand its common objectives to include freedom, security and
justice, adding an extra dimension to the economic and political
cooperation already under way. The idea is to ensure that freedom,
including the right to move freely throughout the Union, can be
enjoyed in conditions of security and justice accessible to all.
Until these issues were placed at the top of the political
agenda by EU leaders meeting in Tampere, Finland, in October
1999, they were not considered priorities in the EU institutions.
Each country had its own policies and wanted to implement them in its own way.
That nation-based approach, however, has now dramatically changed.
The removal of internal borders between
our countries has given us common
responsibility for the shared
external border of the Union, now
grown to 25 countries. That has created
an obvious need for cooperation in law
enforcement among national and judicial
authorities, which has been remarkably
successful over the past five years.
With the advent of terrorism as a major
global threat, international cooperation
has also become very important.
As we stepped up security to fight
terrorism, we made two interesting discoveries.
Firstly, nobody suggested that
the solution was to reintroduce national
border controls inside the European
Union. Secondly, people do not object to
security checks, such as being searched,
taking off their shoes, opening their baggage
and establishing their identity, provided
the reasons are explained and the
controls are conducted courteously.
It is an unfortunate fact that European
countries have had considerable experience
with terrorism over the years
and have devised various ways to deal
with it. Our policies are built on the
lessons learned from those experiences by
our member states, and through dialogue
with major partners around the world,
including, of course, the United States.
Cooperation with the United States
is obviously of enormous importance,
given the huge flows of trade and people
across the Atlantic. Both we and our
American friends very quickly realized
that there was no security for either of us
if we did not work together, because
transportation, to take the obvious example,
has an origin and a destination,
and you have to do the work right at
both ends.
We are constantly developing policies
and, where necessary, enacting laws
to deal with these challenges. In November
2004, EU leaders adopted “The
Hague Program,” a five-year plan to further
and improve EU efforts to regulate
migration, control the Union’s external
borders and fight terrorism and organized
cross-border crime, while guaranteeing
compliance with fundamental
rights.
We also have to ensure that our
member states’ legal systems work well
together by providing for mutual recognition
and enforcement of judgments,
where necessary on the basis of mutual
trust secured by common definitions
and procedures. We are developing a
common asylum system, strengthening
measures against illegal immigration and
promoting a Europe-wide debate on
economic migration trends and needs.
In our new constitutional treaty,
which we hope will enter into force
soon, once all member states have ratified
it, we have improved the efficiency
of the legal system under which we operate
in this area and strengthened its
democratic legitimacy. The system will
be more efficient when the Council of
Ministers is able to decide on many of
these topics by qualified majority vote.
The current requirement of unanimity
has frequently delayed decisions and affected
their quality because of the compromises
necessary to bring every country
on board.
Although qualified majority voting
enables decisions to be taken against the
wishes of a minority if necessary, it does
not usually work like that in practice.
The mere possibility of a majority vote
encourages member states to reach consensus
more quickly because nobody
likes to be in a minority and the majority
does not usually want to overrule a
smaller number of member states. In
other areas where majority voting applies,
it works very well.
“Although we have
made progress, it is a
permanent, daily
struggle to stay
ahead of the game”
Democratic legitimacy will be
strengthened by giving a more important
role to the European Parliament,
which is sometimes not very well understood
in the United States. Americans
are not always aware that the Parliament
is the only EU body directly elected by
the peoples of the member states. Over
the years it has gradually become a
genuine parliament, responsible for
holding the executive to account, and it
is playing an increasingly important role
in the legislative process.
As our system of government
evolves, it is expected that more legislation
will be enacted in the fields of freedom,
justice and security. Reaching
agreement among 25 member states on
issues that are often perceived to be close
to the traditional heart of state sovereignty
will not be easy, and no doubt
Americans will sometimes find our
progress too slow. We occasionally feel
the same way. But a great deal has already
been achieved, and there will continue
to be an intense political activity in
this area, both within the European
Union and in our international relations,
in the years ahead.
The objectives are very simple to
state and very hard to achieve.We want
to close any possible security gap between
Europe and America in which terrorists
could hide.We must have the best
possible human and technological security
systems, and we must ensure that
our citizens can get on with their daily
lives safe from the scourges of terrorism
and organized crime.
Although we have made significant
progress, it is a permanent, daily struggle
to keep ahead of the game. Twice-yearly
meetings between senior EU and U.S. officials
provide a very useful opportunity
to compare notes on our respective ideas
and processes, to reach agreement where
we need to agree, and to understand that
while we share the same objectives we
sometimes prefer to work toward them
in different ways.
Perhaps even more important than
the official meetings are the networks of
personal relationships that we have established
at all levels. There is now a web
of contacts across the Atlantic – via telephone,
fax and email, secure when necessary,
of course – so that nobody on one
side is surprised by something that happens
on the other. Nevertheless, there remains
a great deal more to be done in
our common endeavors.
Jonathan Faull is Director General for Justice, Freedom and Security at the European Commission,
responsible for immigration, drug policy, border security, criminal and civil justice and fundamental
rights. His previous posts at the Commission included Chief Spokesman and Director
General of Press and Communication (1999-2003), Director and then Deputy Director General of
Competition (1995-1999). He is Professor of Law at the Free University of Brussels
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