WRITTEN QUESTION P-1172/98 by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission (2 April 1998)

Subject: Enlargement - justice and home affairs

Following the informal talks in Birmingham, special attention is to be given to preserving the Union's status quo in the field of justice and home affairs in the accession partnerships and the manner in which it is incorporated in the applicant countries.

1. Does the Commission have statistics in the following areas of organised crime: car theft, trafficking in people, drug trafficking, money-laundering, trade-mark protection and corruption? Can it let me have a copy?

2. Does the Commission have information on the steps taken so far in the anti-corruption area, and the results obtained?

3. What steps have been taken by the applicant countries in the field of asylum and immigration law to move into line with the law of the Union?

4. What action has been taken by the applicant countries to set up effective customs authorities at their external frontiers, which are of especial importance in the case of imports of prohibited goods such as drugs, nuclear hardware or arms?

Would the Commission consider the above questions with particular reference to the narrower selection of countries and to statistics from the period after Agenda 2000 was presented, in July 1997?

Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (25 May 1998)

1. The Commission does not collect in a systematic manner data for the areas mentioned by the Honourable Member.

2. In the framework of the Europe agreements and the Accession partnerships and with regard to elements of the Justice and Home Affairs' acquis, initiatives to improve the fight against corruption are underway or are being developed in the applicant countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The Commission will discuss with the applicant countries the inclusion of the fight against corruption in the national programmes for the adoption of the 'acquis'.

The Commission and the Council of Europe established jointly the Octopus project to assess the situation of corruption and organised crime in 16 Central and Eastern European countries and to identify the need to improve or amend legislation, institutions and training programmes. The final report has just become available and is being studied. A second such project, possibly focusing on institution building in the ten candidate countries in the fight against organised crime and corruption, is under consideration.

Through the so-called 'catch-up facility' the Commission has earmarked 100 MECU in the overall PHARE budget for 1998 and 1999 to help Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and the Slovak Republic to meet the Copenhagen criteria. The fight against corruption is one of the three priority areas identified.

Finally, the work programme of UCLAF, adopted on 6 May 1998, points to a very comprehensive pre-accession strategy in the fight against fraud and corruption, which aims at bringing candidate countries up to standards in this area before they have to take over the Community Policies.

3. The field of asylum was chosen as the main topic for discussion for the structured dialogue with the candidate countries during the first half of 1997. This gave the opportunity to analyse the situation in the candidate countries and to identify areas where improvements were needed. The candidate countries have taken initiatives to bring legislation in the fields of asylum and immigration laws up to the standards required for membership. Special attention is increasingly given to improving the institutional framework needed to implement the legislation according to the standards required. Specific projects on asylum will be drawn up under the PHARE programme. Furthermore, the assistance to candidate countries to improve their knowledge of the Community acquis and their administrative institutional systems in the area of asylum and immigration is one of the priorities of the joint action of 19 March 1998 adopted by the Council ((OJ C 267, 3.9.1997. )) introducing a program of training, exchanges and cooperation in the field of asylum, immigration and crossing of external borders (the Odysseus-programme). The first meeting of the management committee of this programme was held on 21 April 1998 and the 1998 annual programme, which confirms the priorities, has been adopted.

4. Many actions are underway to set up effective customs authorities in the candidate countries. Much effort has been put into the improvement of the border infrastructure and the provision of most needed detection equipment for customs.

Work continues under a global strategy which concentrates on the creation of a modern and stable customs legislation and also on the improvement of customs' operational capacity (including computerisation) when it comes to the effective implementation of the new legislation. The core of this customs pre-accession strategy is clearly the improvement of the operational capacity of the customs administrations in question and this is also the area where most of the future actions will be focused.

One project undertaken with Member States customs experts is designed to improve the efficiency of border posts in the PHARE countries via the use of risk analysis techniques and the improvement of border management. This will involve the increased use of computerised systems and improved co-operation between the different agencies operating at and across the border.

The Commission will continue to monitor the effectiveness of all these measures and take progress into account also in the regular review which will take place for first time this autumn.