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EU-G6 Communique: Joint Declaration by the Ministers of Interior of G6 States Sopot, 18 October 2007

01 November 2007

The G6 group of EU states is comprised of: France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK meeting in Poland: Joint Declaration by the Ministers of Interior of G6 States Sopot, 18 October 2007 (pdf) Four points, from this secret meeting, stand out: 1) The G6 states "will actively participate in the works aimed at achieving the desired shape and scope of task of the internal security committee" - this is reference to the Standing Committee on operational cooperation (known as COSI) to be created under the Reform Treaty; 2) They also welcome "the work of the Futures group" - this is a reference to the group set up under the German Council Presidency earlier this year to draw up the next five year plan for justice and home affairs (following the Tampere programme, 1999 and the Hague programme, 2004) - despite promises none of the documents being discussed are available; 3) Undoubtedly at the behest of the UK the G6 Ministers noted the difficulty of expelling "non-nationals who pose a threat to national security". The Minister want to see an EU commitment to "seek assurance through diplomatic understandings" - a reference to the highly controversial agreements reached by the UK to deport people to Jordan, Libya and Morocco; 4) In a direct reference to the mass protests at the G8 Heiligendamm Summit earlier this year the Ministers refer to the "acts of violence" at "mass events" which affected the "security of participants" and want to "continue the discussion" on "providing security and public order". See Statewatch report: Heiligendamm G8 Summit: a chronology of protest and represssion (pdf)

- Conclusions of the G6 meetings in Venice, 11-12 May 2007 (pdf)

- Conclusions of Interior Ministers meeting 25-26 October 2006 (pdf)

- G6 meeting in Stratford upon Avon, UK (link)

- G5 Group on Interior Ministers becomes G6: Meeting of the Interior Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, Heiligendamm, 22 and 23 March 2006 - Full-text of Conclusions (link)

- Background see: UK Select Committee on the European Union slams G6's role and G6-G8-Prum: Behind closed doors - policy-making in secret intergovernmental and international fora (links)