EU: The 1996 IGC
01 March 1995
The Standing committee of experts on international immigration, refugee and criminal law, Utrecht, Netherlands have produced proposals for changes in the Treaty of European Union at the inter-governmental conference (IGC) in 1996. The proposals are intended to "reinforce within the Union the democratic traditions of the Member States" and cover access to information, judicial control, the roles of the European and national parliaments, and combatting racial discrimination.
The Standing committee proposes that the right of access to information should be written into the Treaty instead of allowing it to be decided by the Council and the Commission as at present. The Council (the body representing the 15 EU governments) would have to specify "categories of information to which the citizen shall not have access and the grounds upon which such access may be denied". For the "third pillar" (Article K: policing, immigration and legal cooperation) it is proposed that all draft conventions and joint actions should be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities three months before the Council makes its decision.
Decision-making under the "third pillar" is the most secretive in the EU and it is therefore arguable that all draft resolutions and reports from the K4 Committee considered by the Council of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers should be made public before they are adopted. Resolutions and reports are not binding but they do set the policy-making agenda for the member states. Similarly the proposal that the Council should be able to decide which of its documents should be withheld will, on past practice, be used to deny access to reports which properly belong in the public domain.
On the question of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) the Standing committee recommends that its jurisdiction should be made mandatory. On the role of the ECJ in Conventions adopted under the "third pillar" the report argues that the objection of one Member state (which is often the UK) precludes other countries from giving proper protection for citizen's rights.
At present the Council of Ministers ignores Article K.6 of the Treaty of European Union (TEU) which says it must "consult" the European Parliament on major decisions. This report seeks to enforce this provision by ensuring that the European Parliament has three months to express an opinion on any decision. The Standing committee report also seeks to give national parliaments the same three month period to express an opinion on any decision which is binding on Member states.
Citing the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights the report calls for the "prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race, colour, birth, religion, language, or national, social or ethnic origin". Finally, the Standing Committee calls for the granting of citizenship to all third country nationals "lawfully resident" in a Member state without which any "measures against racism, xenophobia, and racial discrimination will remain hollow rhetoric".
The IGC is scheduled to begin work in 1996 under the Italian Presidency of the EU and continue for up to a year. Changes to the "third pillar" will include discussion of giving Europol an operational role. Whether the Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs becomes more "open" and the European Parliament is properly consulted on "third pillar" issues remains to be seen. Making the European Parliament a proper, democratic, legislative body and tackling racism - which cannot be tackled simply by constitutional amendments to the TEU - is not on the agenda.
Proposals for the amendment of the Treaty on European Union at the IGC in 1996, Standing committee of experts on international immigration, refugee and criminal law, p/a Secretariat, PO Box 638, 3500 AP Utrecht, the Netherlands.