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EU seeks more policing powers
The European Commission yesterday proposed shifting powers for cross-border policing and counterterrorism from member nations to the European Union in an effort to speed up decision-making.
- AP
- Published: 00:00 June 29, 2006
Brussels: The European Commission yesterday proposed shifting powers for cross-border policing and counterterrorism from member nations to the European Union in an effort to speed up decision-making.
The move is seen as a manoeuvre by the EU executive to enhance its role after failing to ratify the EU's constitution, which remains in limbo, after French and Dutch voters rejected it last year.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the plan was aimed "at making a decisive step in meeting the concerns of EU citizens in an area where more Europe is needed".
Barroso and EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said the 25-nation bloc needed to make faster decisions on fighting crime and terrorism and appealed to EU governments to drop their national vetoes in the sensitive judicial policy area.
Frattini said member states were failing to introduce EU legislation, citing as an example that only five member states have so far acted on an EU decision to combat child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children. Barroso said the plan was not a power grab by the EU, nor an attempt to push through parts of the proposed constitution, but was designed to make the most of the existing treaties.
The commission plan calls for EU governments to enact a treaty provision allowing them to shift to make decisions by majority voting. Under current rules, all justice policy decisions must be passed unanimously, which has led to lengthy delays in passing key anti-terror Bills. The European Evidence Warrant, for example, took more than two years to ratify.
The plan also gives the European Parliament more say in reviewing EU justice Bills and gives more powers to the EU's court of justice in settling cases.
The plan to shift powers was likely to face opposition, notably from countries like Britain and Denmark, which are loath to lose vetoes in such sensitive policy areas. Any move to shift the powers however, will have to be backed by all 25 EU nations. EU officials said other areas, including asylum and immigration issues, could also be included in such a power shift in the future.
The bloc's stalled constitution included articles boosting EU powers in immigration and judicial cooperation.
The move is seen as a manoeuvre by the EU executive to enhance its role after failing to ratify the EU's constitution.
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