3.

Considers it urgent and appropriate that the Commission: (a) take urgent initiatives to improve the protection of citizens' rights such as data protection, diplomatic and consular protection and freedom of movement and residence; (b) develop a mechanism to ensure a more extensive involvement of citizens in the definition of the content of citizenship of the Union by developing consultation mechanisms and supporting stakeholder networks; (c) submit a fully fledged programme of EU measures strengthening the procedural rights of defendants and the necessary safeguards in the pre-trial and post-trial phases, notably when they involve a non-national of the country concerned, and more generally develop screening of EU criminal justice and security measures with regard to the protection of citizens' rights; (d) collect and disseminate, on a regular basis, all the relevant neutral data on the evolution of the main AFSJ policies such as migratory flows, the evolution of organised crime and in particular of terrorism (see the EU Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2008 (OCTA) and the EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2008 (TE-SAT) by Europol); (e) present as soon as possible the pending legal instruments on other ‘EU blue card’ categories of third-country workers such as seasonal workers, intra-corporate transferees and remunerated trainees and on FRONTEX's mandate; in particular, ensure that FRONTEX has adequate resources in order to meet its objectives and keep Parliament fully informed of the negotiations on agreements in the field of immigration with third countries; (f) establish a European Internal Security Policy, which should complement national security plans so that citizens of the Union and national parliaments have a clear idea of the added value of EU action; in particular, reinforce EU policy regarding the fight against certain types of organised crime such as cybercrime, trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation of children and corruption, by taking effective action and using all available cooperation tools to achieve measurable results, including action with a view to the adoption of a legislative instrument on the confiscation of financial assets and property of international criminal organisations and on their re-use for social purposes; (g) continue to implement the principle of mutual recognition of legal decisions in both the civil and criminal justice spheres, at all stages of the judicial procedure, in particular as regards criminal justice, to ensure a EU-wide system of recognition and mutual acceptability of evidence, taking the utmost account of respect for fundamental rights; (h) supplement the development of mutual recognition by a series of measures reinforcing mutual confidence, in particular by developing some approximation of substantive and procedural criminal law and of procedural rights, improving the mutual evaluation of the functioning of justice systems and improving ways of developing mutual confidence within the judicial profession, such as increasing judicial training and supporting networking; (i) build a transparent and efficient EU external strategy in the AFSJ, based on a credible policy, in particular where the Community has exclusive competence, for example in readmission agreements, external border protection and visa policies (as is the case concerning the US visa waiver issue); (j) invite the Council to consult Parliament regularly even in the case of international agreements dealing with judicial and police cooperation in criminal matters, as the current refusal by the Council to do so is contrary to the principle of loyal cooperation and of the democratic accountability of the EU; calls on the Commission in particular to present criteria on the development of a proper EU policy regarding agreements with third countries on mutual legal assistance or extradition in criminal matters, taking account of the principle of non-discrimination between EU citizens and the citizens of the third country concerned; (k) introduce specific legislation granting diplomatic and consular protection for all Union citizens whether or not the Member State in question is represented in the third country's territory; (l) submit new proposals in order to comply with the ECJ rulings on the protection of fundamental rights in the case of the freezing of assets of natural and legal persons, also with reference to the ECJ rulings relating to the persons listed in the Annexes to the Council Decisions implementing Article 2(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 of 27 December 2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism (7); (m) strengthen mutual trust and solidarity between the Member States' administrations by: — setting out, in cooperation with the Council of Europe, higher standards of quality for both justice (8) and police cooperation; — strengthening and democratising the mutual assessment mechanisms already provided for in the context of Schengen cooperation and in the fight against terrorism; — extending the model of mutual evaluation and assistance between the Member States established for Schengen to all AFSJ policies where citizens from other Member States or from third countries are concerned (such as for migration and integration policies but also for implementing anti-terrorism and anti-radicalisation programmes); (n) establish more extensive coordination and complementarity between the existing and future EU agencies such as Europol, Eurojust, FRONTEX and Cepol, as these bodies should go beyond their embryonic and uncertain cooperation and establish closer links with the corresponding national services by reaching higher standards of efficiency and security and being more accountable and transparent before the European Parliament and national parliaments; (o) continue to develop and strengthen, on an ongoing basis, the common Union policy on border management, while stressing the need to define, as rapidly as possible, a global architecture for the Union's border strategy, as well as the way in which all related programmes and projects should interact and function as a whole, with a view to optimising the way they interrelate and avoiding duplication or inconsistency;