WRITTEN QUESTION E-1773/03 by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission. Thessaloniki June Council meeting.
Date: 2003-05-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU migration policy, European Council, approximation of policies, external border of the EU, immigration, integration of migrants, right of asylum

6.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 58 E/95

Union companies have over the last decade invested heavily in the United States, contributing to the
6.
financing of the United States current account deficit. These investments were based on an assessment of
relative risks and returns. The attractiveness of the Union for both domestic and international investors
needs to be enhanced. To this end, the Member States are committed to pursue stable macroeconomic
policies to ensure sustainable growth, to creating a single financial market by 2005 and to further
implement structural reforms to improve the growth potential of the Union’s economy.

(2004/C 58 E/110)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1773/03

by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission

(28 May 2003)

Subject: Thessaloniki June Council meeting

Will the Commission please give its view of the agenda of the June Council meeting in Thessaloniki?
Will the meeting discuss the question of EU border police, policing resources for the new EU external
borders post-enlargement, coordination of integration issues in relation to migrants, and the issue of
coordination of managed economic migration?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(14 July 2003)

The Commission presented a package of initiatives on immigration, asylum and the management of
external borders to the Thessaloniki summit. These provided an overview of the work accomplished since
Tampere together with proposals designed to pave the way for new policy initiatives. The package
consisted of three Communications (1), adopted by the Commission on 3 June 2003, dealing with illegal
immigration, border controls, more accessible asylum systems and immigration,
integration and
employment. These were accompanied by a proposal for a co-operation programme with third countries
in the area of migration, building on the preparatory actions financed since 2001 under the current budget
line B7-667.

The first of the three Communications gives particular attention to burden sharing and to the more
efficient management of the external borders of the Union. The European Council noted the Commission’s
estimate that EUR 140 million were necessary for this purpose for the period 2004 to 2006 and accepted
its proposals to make use of the margin available (heading 3 of the financial perspectives) to obtain
additional funding. It also agreed that the post 2006 budgetary perspectives should reflect more adequately
political priorities in this area. There will thus be a first effort of solidarity in the field of external borders,
return and the initial investment required for the development of a visa information system that will be
covered. The Commission will report in due course to the Council on the need to establish a Community
structure, with the necessary human, material and financial resources, to be in charge of operational co-
operation among the national services and specialised centres responsible for the external borders of the
Union.

The European Council welcomed the Commission’s proposals in its Communication on immigration,
integration and employment for strengthening integration policies for third country nationals, in the light
of the growing importance of immigration in the context of demographic ageing and decline. It agreed on
the necessity to reinforce policy co-ordination both at Union and national level inter alia in the form of an
annual report to be presented by the Commission on the development of the common immigration policy
and to develop exchange of information and good practice at Union level via the national contact points
on integration, established by the Council
in October 2002 and through the work of the European
Migration Network which should be strengthened.

With the Communication ‘towards more accessible, equitable and managed asylum systems’,
the
Commission responded to the March 2003 European Council invitation to explore further the ideas put
forward by the United Kingdom on new approaches to international protection, and to report to the
European Council meeting in June 2003. This Communication sets out the Commission’s views and

C 58 E/96

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.3.2004

objectives for a possible new approach towards more accessible, equitable and managed asylum systems.
Such new approach should respect a number of basic premises, set out in this Communication, one of
them being the complementarity with the Common European Asylum System, called for at Tampere.

In line with previous Communications, this Communication confirms the importance the Commission
attaches to the three identified objectives of:

(i) managed arrival in the Union,

(ii) burden-and responsibility sharing with regions of origin and

(iii) streamlined, efficient and enforceable asylum decision- making and return.

The European Council invited the Commission to explore all parameters in order to ensure more orderly
and managed entry in the Union of persons in need if international protection, and to examine ways and
means to enhance the protection capacity of regions of origin, as well as the possibilities to reinforce the
asylum procedures in order to make them more efficient.

The Commission believes that
the Thessaloniki European Council marks an important step in the
consolidation of the Union’s actions in the field of immigration and asylum. It has given a strong signal
marking the Union’s commitment to the development of the common immigration and asylum policy
called for in Tampere (15/16 October 1999).

(1) Communication on the development of a common policy on illegal immigration, smuggling and trafficking of
human beings, external borders and the return of illegal residents, COM(2003) 323 final, Communication towards
more accessible, equitable and managed asylum systems, COM(2003) 315 final, Communication on immigration,
integration and employment, COM(2003) 336 final.

(2004/C 58 E/111)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1790/03

by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission

(28 May 2003)

Subject: Eurojust

How does the Commission propose that MEPs will be consulted on the activities of Eurojust?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(14 July 2003)

Eurojust is a body with legal personality, established by the Council under the provisions of the EU-Treaty
on judicial co-operation in criminal matters. Being composed of judicial officials and judges of the Member
States, Eurojust’s position towards the Commission is independent. Therefore,
is mainly in the
responsibility and the interest of Eurojust to establish an exchange of views with the Members of the
Parliament.

it

The Council Decision 2002/187/JHA establishing Eurojust of 28 February 2002 (1) provides for direct
contacts with the Parliament only in budget matters. According to Article 36(2) of the Council Decision,
the Eurojust President shall submit to the Parliament detailed accounts for the previous financial year no
later than 31 March. paragraph (3) of this Article provides for discharge to Eurojust by Parliament.
Furthermore, direct contacts may be established and ‘experiences of a non-operational nature’ be
exchanged (Article 26(5) of the Council Decision). The Rules of Procedure provide that Eurojust maintain
‘the necessary channels of communication’ with the Parliament in accordance with the Decision. However,
an exchange of information on operational matters, particularly on personal files, is not foreseen (2).