COSI - A new important Council body on EU internal security

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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.

Fingerprints, migrants, and police cooperation between EU member states

Often it is really hard to track member states' positions on crucial issues, like data protection or migration - but sometimes you can find some very interesting things.

In September, the Commission issued a Proposal for a Council Decision on

"requesting comparisons with EURODAC data by Member States' law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes"

This proposal - criticised already in June by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles in a memorandum (PDF) - starts with the following assessment:

"Fingerprint data is especially useful information for law enforcement purposes, as it constitutes an important element in establishing the exact identity of a person. The usefulness of fingerprint databases in fighting crime is a fact that has been repeatedly acknowledged.

Fingerprint data of asylum seekers are collected and stored in the Member State in which the asylum application was filed, as well as in EURODAC.

[...]

However, while Member States successfully access asylum seekers fingerprints on a national level, it seems that access to asylum seekers fingerprint databases of other Member States is more problematic. The reason is that there is a structural information and verification gap since there is currently no single system that is accessible to law enforcement authorities which enables to determine the Member State that has information on an asylum seeker."

As a consequence of this assessment and following the analysis of what is already possible under EU law, the Commission proposes the following:

"The proposed action establishes the basis for the right of Member States as well as Europol to request a comparison of fingerprint data or a latent with EURODAC data. A successful comparison with result in a 'hit' reply from EURODAC, which will be acompanied by all data that is held in EURODAC regarding the fingerprint. Requests for supplementary information following a hit would not be regulated in the proposed Council Decision but rather be covered by existing instruments on the exchange of law enforcement information.

The scope of the proposal will be the fight against terrorist offences and serious criminal offences, such as trafficking in human beings and drugs."

Today, a summary of discussions of the Police Cooperation Working Party of the EU Council on 30 September 2009 has been published. And interestingly, the positions of the member states regarding the proposal have been recorded - and only Belgium seems to be totally against it:

"A vast majority of delegations (AT, CZ, DE, DK, EE, EL, FI, HU, IT, LV, LT, SL, PT, PL, UK, SE, MT, NL) welcomed the proposal and expressed their support to it.

BE indicated that, although significant progress had been made since the discussions on this issue in 2007 which resulted in Council Conclusions on access to Eurodac for law enforcement authorities, it continued to have serious concerns about this proposal.

Various delegations introduced a scrutiny reservation (AT, BE, CY, CZ, EE, EL, FI, IR, LT, MT, NL, PT, SE, SI, SK, UK), and/or a Parliamentary reservation (DK, MT, NL, PL, SE, UK)."

The next meeting of the Working Party is set for Monday, 19 October 2009 - maybe someone in Brussels could try to follow up on this?!

The EU in German blogs (2): Co-operation in police & justice matters

Under the title (translated)

"Bundestag: Police from EU member states will be allowed to use guns in Germany"

author Daniel Neun of the Radio Utopie blog covers a number of matters now implemented into German law by the German parliament (the Bundestag) in the field of justice and policy co-operation.

Based on the Prüm Convention, the EU justice ministers had agreed in late 2007 to extend co-operation, e.g. in the exchange of data (e.g. in the context of EUROPOL) or the co-operation during large events, which now has to be introduced into national legal systems.

The article is extremely critical of most of these measures and sees the extension of transborder and intra-state competencies of national and supranational police authorities as a threat to human rights and democracy, widely unnoticed by the national press and political parties.

(via Duckhome)

Is the EU going to follow all of us?

When having a look at the agenda of the Council Ad Hoc Group on Information Exchange for 19 February 2009, I saw an agenda item that puts tears in my eyes:

4. Automated searching of DNA profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration data pursuant to Council Decision 2008/615/JHA on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime

a) Report from the VRD experts meeting on 12 February 2009
b) Formalities for implementation and evaluation procedure

No, no, no problem, these things are only used against criminals! Don't worry, the EU Council is caring for our security, and there is no problem in the exchange of DNA profiles, fingerprints, and vehicle registration data!

Only criminals have to fear those measures, so please ignore those developments - it's just information exchange!!

European police stations

Almost unrecognised by the blogosphere and general media, the French EU-Council presidency has proposed the setting up of "European policy stations".

Situated in major tourist areas, these European police stations shall bring the European Union closer to its citizens, providing an added value in situations where people are in need of someone who they can address.

The Daily Mail reports:

France had suggested 'European police stations' in major tourist zones in the bloc at which officers from other EU countries would be available to assist citizens, she [French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie] said.

'These would not be monstrous mega-police stations, but rather offices where people from a foreign country can come and be assisted when they have something nasty happen to them - if they've been attacked or had their pockets picked - and where they will be well looked after,' she said.

The idea would be similar to what had already been done in policing of big sports events, she said.

According to a Council document published today, the first test stations will be located (or have been located) in Paris, at the Eurodisney park, in Versailles and during major events in Lourdes (pope's visit) and at the 24 hours of Le Mans (a car race).

I think that this is actually a good idea. The free movement of people also means the free movement of problems. Especially for those Europeans who are not fluent in a local language or are hesitant contacting a national police officer in another EU country in case of problems, the possibility to talk to "European" police forces, maybe even to someone able to speak one's own language, could be of great help.