VZCZCXRO6224
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBS #1659/01 3020643
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 280643Z OCT 08
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001659 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KCRM EUN
SUBJECT: EU COUNTRIES TO SHARE INFORMATION ON CYBER CRIME 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  EU Interior Ministers at their October 24 Justice and Home 
Affairs (JHA) Council meeting in Luxembourg set up a European alert 
platform for reporting offences on the Internet.  The platform, 
hosted by EUROPOL with 300,000 EUR funding from the EU budget, will 
help cyber crime investigators in the EU Member States share 
information, e.g. in the fight against child pornography.  The 
Council took stock of progress on the plan to use European passenger 
name record (PNR) data for law enforcement purposes.  French 
Interior Minister/Council chair Alliot-Marie reported differences 
but "rather on the pace than on the substance of the plan." 
Ministers decided to enhance the effectiveness of operational 
cooperation among law-enforcement departments of the Member States 
in the area of internal security.  They debated the EU's approach to 
drug-trafficking in West Africa in preparation for the UN Office on 
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) ministerial to take place in Praia, Capo 
Verde, on October 28-29.  Justice Ministers at the same Council 
meeting decided to facilitate the recovery of maintenance allowances 
within the EU and to set up a European Criminal Records Information 
System (ECRIS) to ensure that information can be transmitted by 
electronic means.  Full text of the Council conclusions will be 
published on the EU Council website (http://consilium.europa.eu). 
END SUMMARY. 
 
CYBER CRIME 
----------- 
 
¶2.   French Interior Minister/Council chair Michhle Alliot-Marie 
told a post-Council press conference ministers decided to set up a 
European alert platform for reporting offences noted on the 
Internet.  Alliot-Marie stressed that cyber crime covers a wide 
range of areas, including terrorism, trafficking and child sexual 
abuse material.  Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot said 
300,000 EUR would be made available for EUROPOL as the body best 
placed to host the European alert platform, where reports on illicit 
web content and other Internet related crimes made in the EU 
countries would be pooled for crosschecking.  The European platform 
will help cyber crime investigators in EU Member States share 
information and avoid the duplication of efforts, e.g. in the fight 
against child pornography.  The Commission will also make funding 
available for those Member States who will need to adapt or set up 
their national reporting systems for the purpose of the EUROPOL 
platform.  Barrot stressed that, in order for the European platform 
to be fully effective, "Member States have to use it in the course 
of their investigations."  Alliot-Marie said the Council would 
follow up in November with an action plan for the fight against 
cyber crime. 
 
PROGRESS TOWARD EUROPEAN PNR 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3.  The Council took stock of progress on the plan to use European 
passenger name record (PNR) data for law enforcement purposes. 
Rather than engaging into negotiations on the details of the 
Commission proposal, the French Presidency has been conducting 
consultations on basic questions raised by the initiative. 
Alliot-Marie told the press conference that the consultations were 
still ongoing and that another report would be presented to the 
November JHA Council.  She reported differences but "rather on the 
pace of implementing a European PNR than on the substance of the 
plan," offering no specific comment on the question of whether the 
future European PNR should cover the intra-EU flights.  Alliot-Marie 
underlined the need to "take all sensitivities on board," including 
the views of the European Parliament (EP - set to have a formal say 
on the proposal under Lisbon Treaty rules).  She stressed the "value 
added" of a European PNR, noting that 60-80 percent of drug seizures 
at the Orly airport (Paris) were happening thanks to passenger data. 
 The November report to the Council will address the cost/efficiency 
ratio and the balance between the requirements of security and the 
respect of individual freedoms.  Alliot-Marie said she would soon 
bring these questions before the EP. 
 
COOPERATION AMONG LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Following on their informal meeting in Cannes in July 2008, 
ministers adopted conclusions defining and giving substance to the 
"principle of convergence" to enhance the effectiveness of actions 
by EU Member States in the area of internal security.  The 
conclusions will be used as guiding principles for operational 
cooperation among law-enforcement departments of the EU countries. 
As an illustration of the principle, Belgium, France, Germany and 
Luxembourg signed a agreement on the fringes of the Council meeting 
on the creation of a police and customs cooperation center.  Among 
other purposes, the center will allow better follow-up of serious 
traffic offenders. 
 
DRUG TRAFFICKING IN WEST AFRICA 
 
BRUSSELS 00001659  002 OF 002 
 
 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  Officials noted that West Africa has become a platform for 
trafficking drugs from Latin America, which could, in the words of 
Alliot-Marie, "further contribute to the destabilization of an 
extremely fragile" part of the world.  The French minister also 
stressed the need to address the problem of drug trafficking in the 
region as a potential source of financing of terrorist and criminal 
activities.  A senior French official referred to the shared view of 
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), ICPO-Interpol 
and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that 10 
percent of the world's cocaine transits through the region.  Between 
2005 and 2007, seizures of cocaine from West Africa and destined for 
Europe amounted to 33 tons. The Commission estimates that about 250 
tons of cocaine enter the EU every year. 
 
¶6.  Alliot-Marie said the Council's discussions would shape the EU's 
approach to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 
ministerial conference to take place in Praia, Capo Verde, on 
October 28-29.  Barrot recalled that the EU already provides 
financing to combat drug trafficking in Africa, including funding 
through the 9th European Development Fund (financial instrument of 
the Cotonou agreement) in Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Ghana and Niger. 
 
 
BODY SCANNERS 
------------- 
 
¶7.  Barrot updated the Council on the issue of "body scanners" at EU 
airports, which was the subject of a Commission proposal in 
September that still requires adoption by the Council and European 
Parliament.  In reaction to sharp criticism from the European 
Parliament, which voted overwhelmingly on October 23 to demand more 
study before the EU authorizes airports to use machines that allow 
security staff to see an outline of passengers' bodies beneath their 
clothes, Barrot made it clear that such scanners would only be 
proposed to passengers on a voluntary basis among other methods at 
airport security checks.  Alliot-Marie said she was personally in 
favor of making use of the most advanced technological means in the 
fight against terrorism and crime, arguing "terrorist and criminals 
are always a step ahead on us."  Alliot-Marie nevertheless 
reiterated her concern to balance respect of citizens' rights with 
the need to ensure collective security. 
 
CRIMINAL RECORDS 
---------------- 
 
¶8.  With French Justice minister Rachida Dati in the chair, the 
Council reached agreement in principle on a proposal to set up a 
European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS).  The European 
Parliament gave a positive opinion on this proposal on October 9. 
This is a follow-up to the Framework Decision on the exchange of 
information from criminal records between EU Member States.  The 
ECRIS Decision aims in particular to ensure that information can be 
transmitted by electronic means and lays down the conditions and 
format for the exchange of data.  Member States would be fully 
responsible for the management of their own criminal records but 
transfers of information would be facilitated by means of a common 
data exchange format. 
 
MAINTENANCE OBLIGATIONS 
----------------------- 
 
¶9.  Ministers decided to facilitate the recovery of maintenance 
allowances within the EU.  Under a new piece of EU legislation, all 
decisions concerning recovery of maintenance will be allowed to 
circulate freely between Member States without any form of control 
on the substance in the country of enforcement.  The goal is to 
abolish in this specific case the requirement for an exequatur 
procedure, whereby judicial decisions in one Member State must be 
formally recognized by the other in order to be enforced.  EU 
sources cited the growing number of couples separating as well as 
the increased mobility of EU citizens as factors contributing to the 
development of cross-border litigation over maintenance payments. 
 
SILVERBERG