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Statewatch News online: EU: Irish Presidency statement on JHA Council 19 March 2003
28 March 2012
EU: Irish
Presidency statement on JHA Council 19 March 2003
The Irish Presidency statement on the special meeting
of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels (JHA) on
19 March 2004 adds a bit more detail to the original JHA press
release:
1. Mr Solana, Secretary-General of the Council of the European
Union (the 15 EU governments) and High Representative of defence
and foreign policy, is to report "within 180 days"
(six months) on integrating the "intelligence capacity"
within the Council's General Secretariat (for example, second
and third pillar working parties and expertise from policing
with that of border control).
2. A new "Counter Terrorism Coordinator" is to be
appointed in the Council.
3. The new measure to introduce the mandatory retention of
communications data by service providers and procedures for the
exchange of this data between agencies in different member states
to be adopted by December 2004. See: leaked
draft Framework Decision on mandatory data retention EU-wide:
Statewatch: Special
Report
which contains: Full-text,
report and analysis
(pdf) - the Danish Presidency denied the existence of any plans:
Report
4. The European Border Management Agency proposal to be adopted
by May 2004.
5. "document security" (visas, resident third-country
nationals, EU passports and ID cards to carry biometric data
and be held on a European database on SIS II) to me maximised.
Other reports says that the deadline for the mandatory taking
of fingerprints for EU passports has been advanced by a year
to 2005.
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:
"Mr McDowell argues that: "Our purpose is to
demonstrate that the terrorist will not succeed in overturning
the hard-won liberties that illuminate all the nations of the
Union". That is a matter of opinion, certainly the wholesale
retention of data on all phone-calls, mobile phone-calls, e-mails,
faxes and internet usage and the fingerprinting of almost everyone
in the EU will fundamentally undermine our "hard-won liberties".
Were it being proposed that these new forms of surveillance
should only be used to combat terrorism there could be little
objection. But that is not what is being planned, the data will
be used for crime in general and potentially for social and political
control. The proposed wholesale surveillance of the daily activities
of everyone in the EU is authoritarian and has no place in a
democracy."
See also:
1. EU: Emergency Justice and Home Affairs
Council - press release, 19.3.04: Report and press release
2.
Homeland
Security comes to the EU: European Commission publishes Action
Plan on terrorism (and crime): Report and documentation
Irish Presidency statement:
EU unites in the fight against Terrorism - McDowell
Date: 19 Mar 2004
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Michael
McDowell, T.D., today expressed satisfaction at the outcome of
the extraordinary meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council
meeting which was held as a result of the recent terrorist attack
in Madrid.
Minister McDowell announced that the Council has agreed a draft
Declaration on Combating Terrorism incorporating a number of
measures that the Minister believes will result in a strong manifesto
for a renewed attack on all aspects of the terrorist threat to
Europe.
The Council focused on the following:
" reinforcing operational cooperation through a renewed
commitment to the optimum use of bodies such as Europol, Eurojust
and the Police Chiefs' Task Force as well as other measures directed
to preventing terrorist groups having access to instruments of
their trade;
" improving arrangements for the sharing of intelligence
including tasking SG/HR Solana with reporting, within 180 days,
on how an intelligence capacity might be integrated within the
Council Secretariat, with a view to informing EU policy;
" emphasising implementation of existing legal instruments
which can contribute to the fight against terrorism, in any event
no later than June 2004;
" undertaking to take forward work quickly on new instruments
of relevance including establishing rules on the retention of
communications traffic data by service providers and exchanging
information on convictions for terrorist offences with a view
to adoption of these by December 2004;
" maximising the effectiveness of information systems and
strengthening border controls and document security, with work
to be taken forward on the proposal for a regulation establishing
a European Borders Agency with a view to adoption by May 2004;
" speedy adoption of the Council Directive on compensation
to crime victims; improving our capacity to prevent the financing
of terrorism;
" strategic guidelines for a revised EU Plan of Action to
Combat Terrorism;
" new institutional arrangements by way of the proposal
for the appointment of a Counter Terrorism Coordinator and new
possibilities for ensuring operational cooperation;
" examining measures in the area of transportation security
and in terms of the external relations field.
" implementation of the European Security Strategy;
" the immediate implementation of the solidarity clause
as envisaged by Article 42 of the draft Constitution for Europe.
Speaking after the meeting the Minister said, "Our thoughts,
first and foremost, must be with the bereaved, whose loved ones
were so callously murdered, and the many hundreds of innocent
victims who have been injured in what was a calculated, blatant
and heinous attack on our democratic way of life".
McDowell said that the measures contained in the draft Declaration,
by necessity, fall to be implemented across the institutions
of the Union and by Member States themselves. They will now
be considered by Foreign Affairs Ministers next Monday and Tuesday,
before going before the Heads of State and Government.
"We stand in solidarity with the people of Madrid, the people
of Spain, and the peoples of Europe in the fight against terrorism.
Our purpose is to demonstrate that the terrorist will not succeed
in overturning the hard-won liberties that illumine all the nations
of the Union - and which make us masters of our own destinies
and the envy of the world. The measures agreed at today's meeting
underline our determination", he concluded.
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