COSI - A new important Council body on EU internal security

http://www.flickr.com/photos/muehlinghaus/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

On 11 March 2010, the newly established Standing Committee on operational cooperation on internal security (COSI) of the EU Council met for the first time.

This working party composed of member states experts from the capitals (thus not from the permanent representations in Brussels; source) was formally set up by the Council on 25 February and is regarded by the Council as part of the major changes of its working structures in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) after the Lisbon Treaty ratification.

COSI will have the task to

facilitate, promote and strengthen coordination of operational actions of the authorities of the Member States competent in the field of internal security. (Article 2)

Citing from Article 6 of the Council decision, the European Journal remarks that

[w]hereas the committee is required to report its activities to the Council, the Council solely is required to “keep the EP and national parliaments informed.” Hence, such committee will not be subject to a proper parliamentary control.

The scope of the work of the committee looks pretty broad, including a number of controversial security issues discussed in the member states and the EU.

From the summary of discussions of the first COSI meeting we learn that one of the tasks of the committee could be to deal with mutual assistants of member states in case of terrorist attacks as well as in case of natural or man-made disasters (cf. Article 222 TFEU).

Other fields of activity concern "the exchange of personal data for law enforcement purposes", "counter-terrorism measures", "PNR" (Passenger Name Records), all topics on the agenda before the summer, as well as the plan for an EU "internal security strategy" which the Commission wants to propose after the summer of 2010. In this regard, the committee is also interested in the co-operation of the EU internal security agencies CEPOL, Eurojust, Europol and FRONTEX whose representatives can be allowed to participate in COSI meetings.

This new committee looks like one of the new major players in the EU's internal security policies on the side of the EU governments - and I hope the European Parliament and national parliaments will be able to counterbalance its weight in the years to come.

Supplement: In the Council search you can find, for example, the latest agendas or summary of discussions in which COSI is mentioned.

Supplement 2: 16 member states have issued their comments regarding the tasks that COSI should take over. Unfortunately, the documents are only partially public so you don't see which country has sent which questionnaire.

Migrants at Sea

The EU is considered by some as the stronghold against outsiders, especially those whose fishing grounds we have emptied with our trawlers and whose agriculture we have held small with cheap products thanks to excessive agricultural subsidies.

With one post on the film "Welcome" last week and yesterday's posts on the number of people entering the EU legally and on the Frontex feasibility study it now only seems natural to point to the blog

"Migrants at Sea"

that focusses on the topic of illegal migration via sea from Africa to the EU/Europe on a permanent basis. Apparently it needs an American scholar to write such a blog.

Most appreciated that some don't just write occasionally on that topic, after they have been startled by a film!

Scanning digital documents: EU Council & the FRONTEX feasibility study

In the 21st century, you should always scan documents that exist in a digital version.

The EU Council is one of the organisations that has understood this credo, and so they have scanned (in black and white) the draft executive version of a document that must have existed in a digital version, because the final "Study on the feasibility of establishing specialized branches of Frontex" is available in colour PDF in its final version.

But why not scan everything that is already existing digitally?

PS.: But maybe the draft executive version contains details that have been erased from the final version and they don't want that anybody finds them if the document isn't searchable? (Just a thought.)