Europe deepens Member States' police cooperation 16-02-2007 During the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on 15 February, EU
ministers reached an agreement on the Treaty of Prüm and the transfer of
prisoners. ‘Prüm’ provides for cross-border exchange of data between the police
and the intervention of mixed patrols on Member States' territories. The Treaty
has now been turned into EU law, binding all EU Member States. Furthermore,
people condemned in one Member State will be automatically transferred back to
their country of origin to serve their sentence.
Other points which were adopted include the regulation creating the
Fundamental Rights Agency (the political agreement was concluded under the
Finnish presidency in 2006). The agency will start work on 1 March 2007. It will
succeed the European observatory of racist and xenophobic phenomena, but with a
broader scope. Its mission is to collect and analyse information on the respect
of fundamental rights in Member States.
The Council also adopted three new financial instruments to increase security
(particularly the fight against terrorism) and promote legal co-operation in
criminal cases for the 2007-2013 period:
Source: European Information Service LinksRead the German EU Presidency press release on the Prüm Treaty back |
