EUROPEAN UNION COOPERATION IN JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
The development of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) as a dynamic policy area of the European Union (EU) has been one of the most astonishing developments of the 1990s. Co-operation between EU Member States (M.S.) in this field began in the mid-1970s in an informal and intergovernmental framework separated from the European Community system of decision making. With the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty) on 1 November 1993, co-operation in JHA was included in the EU Treaties forming the third pillar (Title VI TEU) within the field of intergovernmental co-operation.
The Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force on 1 May 1999, made EU policies in JHA a fundamental Treaty objective, Article 2 TEU providing for the maintenance and the development of the EU as an "Area of freedom, security and justice" (AFSJ). The Treaty of Amsterdam made a major move towards "communitarisation" by the transfer of matters of asylum, immigration, external border controls and judicial co-operation in civil matters into the new Title IV of the EC Treaty. As a result, the above mentioned policy areas were transferred to the supranational "first pillar" of the EU. In this way, M.S. have for the first time agreed to bring key areas of JHA within the remit of the most supranational of the European Treaties. Only judicial co-operation in criminal matters and police co-operation remained within the intergovernmental domain of Title VI TEU (third pillar).
The Tampere European Council (October 1999) was the first to address the development of the EU as a unified region of freedom, security and justice and was considered to be the natural follow-up to the Amsterdam Treaty by defining a number of political priorities, to which the policies of M-S should conform by the end of year 2004 in the following areas:
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Area of Freedom: free movement of persons in accordance with the Schengen acquis, the protection of human rights and suppression of all forms of discrimination.
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Area of Security: fight against crime especially through police and customs co-operation.
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Area of Justice: improvement of co-operation between national judicial authorities and better access to justice by EU citizens.
Monitoring of the implementation rate of the relevant programme was made possible by:
a. The submission to the Council by the European Commission of a Scoreboard, updated every six months to keep track of the progress made. This Scoreboard is a set of tables listing the EU's objectives in this field as well as action planned and taken on each point.
b. An interim assessment during the European Council meeting in December 2001, which took place in Laaken, where an overall assessment of the progress was made and a new impetus was given.
During the extraordinary European Council on 21 September 2001, in the aftermath of the terrorist events of September 11, the importance of the Tampere conclusions and the relevant timetable were emphasised. Acceleration of the promotion and implementation of the necessary courses of action was requested.
At the European Council of Seville (June 21-22, 2002), satisfaction was expressed regarding the results attained within the framework of the overall action plan for the combating of illegal immigration, and the coming Presidencies were called upon to continue to give priority position to immigration issues in their task timetables. The whole process towards an area of Freedom, Security and Justice was further promoted and enhanced by the conclusions adopted by the Thessaloniki European Council (June 19-20, 2003).
The Amsterdam Treaty imposed a 5-year timeframe with a deadline of 1 May 2004 for the adoption of a range of specified measures directed at the establishment of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. It also marks the end of the more ambitious 5-year programme agreed upon at the Tampere European Council.
POST TAMPERE PROGRAMME PERSPECTIVES THE HAGUE PROGRAMME
The establishment of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice was a new goal set for the EU by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Tampere European Council (October 1999) set a very ambitious programme as regards this goal with policy guidelines and objectives as well as a timetable for their attainment. In view of the fact that on 1 May 2004, with the full accession of the ten new Member States, the Tampere programme completed 5 years, the Irish and Dutch Presidencies have elaborated new directions for enhancing "meta -post Tampere" co-operation in the JHA field.
The European Commission published a Communication on 2 June 2004 in which it makes an (positive) assessment of the EU action regarding the implementation of measures provided for by the Tampere programme. It also sets future guidelines for the upcoming programme in the JHA domain in connection to the measures that have to be taken for the next years. In this regard, the Commission has opened a public consultation process which ended on 31 August 2004.
THE SCHENGEN ACQUIS
The Schengen Agreement was signed in Luxembourg among the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), France and Germany, on the 14 June 1985. The aim of the Agreement was the abolishment of controls at the common internal land, air and sea borders, between Member States. On the basis of the above-mentioned Agreement, the same five Member States signed the Convention on the Application of the Schengen Agreement (known as the Schengen Convention) on 19 June 1990. The Convention includes provisions on police co-operation, judicial co-operation, data protection, prevention of drugs crime, a common visa policy and a uniform level of external borders controls.
With the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty on 1 May 1999, the Schengen acquis was integrated into the European Union by means of a Protocol annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty, which laid down detailed arrangements for that integration process.
Greece's road to Schengen has been slow but steady over the past decade. An agreement was signed as early as November 1992, but the necessary legislation was finalised only in 1997. It was another two years before all procedures were in place and the full implementation of the Schengen acquis took place from 1 January 2000 (25/3/2000 for air borders). In practice, the application of the Schengen acquis meant that regular passport controls along the borders with the other Schengen countries, both at seaports and airports, would no longer be carried out.
Since 25 March 2001, the following 13 countries have been applying the Schengen acquis in full:
Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland. Norway and Iceland are associated to Schengen by special Agreement, without being members of the EU. The UK and Ireland apply the Schengen acquis only partially, so passport controls are still in place with the Schengen area countries (EU, Nor+Ice).
MAIN AREAS OF THE SCHENGEN ACQUIS
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Abolition of controls at internal borders
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Free Movement of third country nationals within the Schengen zone
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External border controls
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Visa policy
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Police/judicial co-operation
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Measures against drug trafficking/firearms and ammunition - Co-operation against Organised Crime
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Organisation and functioning of the Schengen Information System (SIS)
Note that the main area of the acquis concerns the abolition of controls at internal borders, the rest being the so-called "compensatory measures" to make the first area possible.
COMMON CONSULAR INSTRUCTIONS - COMMON MANUAL
The Common Consular Instructions contain all the relevant information on the uniform procedure of visa applications by the Consular Services of Member States and incorporates all relevant Community legislation on visa policy:
Corresponding instructions for the border control services are included in the Common Manual.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SCHENGEN ACQUIS BY GREECE
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Ratification by Law no. 2068/1992 (FEK 118/A/9.7.1992) of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data.
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Transcription into National Law of the Schengen Convention (Law n. 2514/27.06.1997/Govern. Gazette (FEK) 140)
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Transcription into National Law of the European Community Directive on Data Protection (law n. 2472/1997 FEK 50/A p. 685)
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Harmonisation of Aliens and Migration Legislation to EU standards (law no. 2910/2001 and subsequent amendments)