The EU Council Committee on Internal Security (COSI) will meet on Friday with this provisional agenda.
And the meeting documents are almost all secret: 9441/2/10, 8386/10, 11370/10, 10926/10, 10928/10. Only exception: this one.
Showing posts with label COSI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COSI. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
The secret five - observations on the COSI meeting of 30 April 2010
COSI, the Standing Committee on operational cooperation on internal security, has met on 30 April to discuss issues like the protection of the EU's external borders or the cooperation between the internal security agencies of the EU.
What we see in the summary of discussions of the meeting is that the public is not trusted to know what the committee is working on in detail.
Take the summary of agenda item 5:
But instead of telling us which are the 5 of the 29 measures to will be dealt with, COSI keeps it secret from us.
In other words: The ministers have agreed on a public list of 29 measures regarding FRONTEX, but the non-elected officials sitting in COSI keep secret from us what they are doing with these measures. Brilliant!
What we see in the summary of discussions of the meeting is that the public is not trusted to know what the committee is working on in detail.
Take the summary of agenda item 5:
"The meeting reached consensus on the Presidency proposal (doc. 8852/10 COSI 24 ASIM 48 FRONT 57 COMIX 321) regarding the involvement of COSI in the implementation of 5 out of the 29 measures set out in the above-mentioned Council Conclusions. The COSI Support Group was invited to submit to the next COSI meeting concrete proposals for COSI's involvement in the identified measures and delegations were invited to indicate their willingness to participate in the elaboration and implementation of these proposals."In this summary, we are directed to a non-public "Presidency proposal" (I've added the link) that seems to give guidance on how to deal with 29 measures proposed by the Council in February (see the Council conclusions).
But instead of telling us which are the 5 of the 29 measures to will be dealt with, COSI keeps it secret from us.
In other words: The ministers have agreed on a public list of 29 measures regarding FRONTEX, but the non-elected officials sitting in COSI keep secret from us what they are doing with these measures. Brilliant!
Sunday, 21 March 2010
COSI - A new important Council body on EU internal security
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
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
