Implementing The Hague Programme: the way forward

Implementing The Hague Programme: the way forward

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

1. Introduction

The Hague Programme «Strengthening Freedom, Security and Justice in the European Union» was adopted by the European Council in November 2004. It reaffirmed the importance that the European Union attaches since the Tampere European Council in 1999 to the area of Freedom, Security and Justice, placing it high among the Union’s priorities - not only because it is one of the Union’s fundamental objectives, but also, and above all, because it is at the heart of EU citizens’ interests. The Commission Communication to the European Council on «A Citizens’ Agenda for Europe» of 10 May 2006 strongly reaffirmed this priority [1].

Since the end of 2004, the Member States and the EU Institutions have worked to ensure the implementation of the Programme in accordance with the Council and Commission Action Plan adopted in June 2005.

The European Council stated in December 2004 that "since the Programme will run for a period during which the Constitutional Treaty will enter into force, a review of its implementation is considered to be useful. To that end, it invited the Commission to report in 2006 "to the European Council on the progress made and to propose the necessary additions to the Programme".

In the absence of the entry into force of the Constitutional Treaty, it is still necessary to draw up a first political assessment of progress made in implementing The Hague Programme and to propose the necessary adjustments. The present Communication and the parallel Communications on "Strengthening Freedom, Security and Justice in the European Union: report on the implementation of The Hague Programme for the year 2005" (hereafter "the Scoreboard plus") and on "The Evaluation of EU Policies on Freedom, Security and Justice" constitute the answer to the call made by the European Council.

The aim of this comprehensive package is thus notto identify new priorities compared to those set out by the Hague Programme but mainly (1) to take stock of the progress made, (2) to assess the level of implementation at EU and national level and (3) to propose a thorough evaluation of results.

On the basis of the policy priorities identified for the implementation of Hague Programme in its Communication of 10 May 2005 [2], the Commission has identified those areasin respect of which it believes it is necessary to take forward the political agenda of the Unionon the basis of The Hague Programme.

The Commission acknowledges the urgent need to find a new impetus in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice as part of an ambitious, policy-driven agenda for citizens

In presenting this package of measures, the Commission wishes to stimulate and structure the discussion with the Member States and the other Institutions during the Finnish Council Presidency (July- December 2006) on

new policy initiatives it considers necessary (see Chapter 2), other than those already in course of implementation under The Hague Programme, and

as requested by the June 2006 European Council [3], on exploring possible ways to improve the functioning of Freedom, Security and Justice policies by using the possibilities provided for in the current Treaties,without pre-empting the Constitutional Treaty (see Chapter 3).

To make further progress in the establishment of an area of Freedom, Security and Justice, more effective transparent and accountable decision-making procedures are needed. As demonstrated by the "Scoreboard plus", which for the first time gives an assessment of implementation of EU legislation at national level, adoption of legislative proposals at EU level is extremely lengthy, and in certain areas, results barely reach the lowest common denominator and fail to meet some of the initial objectives.

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