EDU's mandate "extended"
01 November 1994
At the Summit meeting of EU Prime Ministers in Essen, Germany, on 9-10 December, it was decided to "extend" the role of the European Drugs Unit (EDU) to cover: nuclear crime, the smuggling of people ("illegal" immigration networks), vehicle trafficking (car crime) and associated money-laundering operations. The Justice and Home Affairs Council was asked to expedite the "appropriate legal instrument". This followed the failure to agree on the draft Europol Convention at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 30 November, which also rejected the proposal adopted by the Summit (see Feature page 16).
The decision to tag onto the EDU these three new tasks was a "face-saving" measure for the German Presidency of the EU. It was apparently agreed without the usual background reports from the K4 Committee and its Steering Groups. The Justice and Home Affairs Council will have to adopt a "joint action" proposal under Article K.3.2.b of the Maastricht Treaty (the Treaty of European Union).
A civil liberties lawyer commented:
This is a quite extraordinary move. The EDU was only set up as a temporary measure under a "ministerial agreement" in June 1993. It does not have to be ratified by national parliaments, has no mechanism for accounting to the European Parliament, for subject access or appeal to the European Court of Justice - many of the very problems which have stopped the signing of the Europol Convention. Giving new powers to the police "at a stroke" and in this manner is bad law-making and undermines democracy.
The meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on 30 November and 1 December did finally agree on the appointments to the European Drugs Unit (EDU) (see Statewatch vol 4 no 3). From the UK Chief Superintendent David Valls-Russell has been appointed to the five-strong management team. The Director of the EDU, appointed in June, is Mr Jurgen Storbeck (Germany). He is now joined by two Deputy Coordinators: Mr Willy Bruggemann (Belgium) and Mr Georges Rauch (Luxembourg) and two Assistant Deputy Coordinators: MM Emanuele Marotta (Italy) and Mr David Valls-Russell (UK). Together they will form the Board of the EDU (all appointments are until 31 December 1997).
The EDU is based in the Hague, Netherlands and its first budget for 1995 is 3.7 million ECUs. It operates under a Ministerial Agreement signed in Copenhagen in June 1993 (see Statewatch vol 3 no 3). There are now 7 UK police and customs officers in the EDU: two liaison officers, two analysts, one in the planning and development team, an IT trainer, and Mr Valls-Russell.
The Council meeting also agreed two resolutions: 1) "on the admission of third-country nationals to the territory of the Member states of the EU for study purposes". This allows third-country nationals to enter the EU for study proposes providing they have a firm offer and the money to support themselves for the period of study. The resolution emphasises that they must "return to their countries of origin" at the end of their studies and steps will be taken to ensure this "does not turn into permanent immigration". 2) a resolution on "travel facilities for third country nationals (school pupils resident in a Member state). The meeting did not agree the other resolutions on: "burden-sharing with regard to the admission and residence of displaced persons" (a German initiative); "minimum guarantees for asylum procedures"(this is required for the implementation of the Dublin Convention on asylum applications which is due to enter into force in the first half of 1995). No agreement on this was possible because of a Spanish amendment geared to stop asylum applications between member states of the EU on the grounds that any suggestion of persecution "is obviously groundless".
Another resolution affecting the rights of migrants was passed at the meeting of the General Affairs Council on 31 October. This resolution, "Conditions for the readmission of persons who are ille