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R 271513Z MAR 09
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000447 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
TAGS: EUN PREL KCRM SNAR PGOV SOCI CVIS
SUBJECT: THE STOCKHOLM PROGRAM: EUROPEAN UNION'S NEXT 
MULTI-YEAR PROGRAM FOR JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS 
 
REF: BRUSSELS 0218 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1.  (U)  The European Union (EU) will adopt a new five-year program 
in the area of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) in 2009, which will 
succeed the Hague Program in place since 2005.  This program will 
outline EU-wide policy priorities and objectives for the years 
2010-2014.  In honor of the (July to December 2009) Swedish 
presidency, the agenda will be named the "Stockholm Program."  The 
program is expected to provide recommendations and proposals in the 
areas of visas, asylum, immigration, and border control, as well as 
organized crime, terrorism, police and judicial cooperation, drugs 
and other areas.  The policies will have important implications for 
the United States, especially for cooperation in such matters as 
terrorism and organized crime.  END SUMMARY. 
 
STOCKHOLM PROGRAM PREPARATION 
 
¶2.  (U)  The European Union (EU) will adopt a new five-year program 
in the area of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) in 2009.  To prepare 
its draft of the Stockholm Program, the European Commission has 
solicited recommendations from two High-level Advisory Groups, 
member states, stakeholders, and EU citizens.  The "Trio", with the 
leadership of the Swedish Presidency, hosted a two-day forum March 
4-5 of JHA representatives from the French, Czech, and Swedish 
Presidencies, Council Secretariat, Commission, other EU institutions 
(EUROPOL, EUROJUST), member states, academics, and others (the U.S. 
and Canada) to discuss the vision, fundamentals, and objectives of 
the Stockholm Program.  Public questionnaires, a "flash 
Eurobarometer" study, and stakeholder reports have been gathered and 
published by the Commission to highlight the public's expectations 
of future priorities in JHA.  When the draft is ready, it will be 
sent to the Council for approval.  The Swedish Council Presidency 
(which starts July 1, 2009) will take an active role in shaping the 
Program throughout the drafting process. 
 
¶3.  (U)  In addition to addressing public opinion, the new program 
will need to remain flexible in the likelihood of EU institutional 
reforms stemming from the eventual implementation of Lisbon Treaty. 
Its adoption would have significant implications for the roles and 
responsibilities of the institutions charged with carrying out the 
new program. 
 
SOURCES OF STOCKHOLM PROGRAM 
 
¶4.  (U)  The Tampere Program of 1999 was the first long-term plan 
developed by the Commission for JHA.  This was followed by the Hague 
Program in 2004, which expires this year.  JHA comprises policies in 
roughly eight areas, including: immigration and asylum, police and 
judicial cooperation, organized crime, terrorism, drug abuse, 
external borders, fundamental and children's rights, and access to 
justice.  A "flash Eurobarometer" study examined the public's 
concern in those eight areas as well as the level of public support 
for EU-level actions in each.  While the results show a majority of 
EU citizens have concerns in all areas of JHA, they were 
particularly worried about organized crime and terrorism, and drug 
abuse.  These topics were followed closely by promotion and 
protection of fundamental rights, including children's rights.  In 
these same areas, respondents indicated a high level of support for 
EU-level action, suggesting that they believe EU-wide actions would 
have an added value to purely national efforts.  Even on topics 
where public concern was low (such as the exchange of judicial and 
police information between member states, and control of the EU's 
borders), the results showed support for EU-level actions. 
Recommendations by the Commission on asylum, border and migration 
policy are expected in May and will be considered at the EU JHA 
Ministerial meeting in Stockholm in July. 
 
THE SWEDISH PRESIDENCY PRIORITIES 
 
¶5.  (U)  Hans Nilsson, a long-time Council Secretariat JHA official 
who is now Counselor for JHA affairs at the Swedish Representation 
to the EU, has said that the Stockholm Program will be a modest 
agenda.  Instead of regulating for regulations sake, he said, the 
Program will emphasize evaluation and enforcement of current laws. 
At the most recent U.S.-EU JHA Informal meeting (Reftel) in Prague, 
the Swedish delegation indicated some of their priorities for the 
post-Hague Program.  These included individual rights in criminal 
proceedings, trafficking in persons, asylum, and migration.  Given 
that the results of the Commission's investigation showed similar 
interest among the European population, these are likely to be 
prominent subjects.  Further, the Program is likely to be focused on 
comprehensive, coherent policies that more clearly define the 
external impact of regulation.  Compared to the previous Programs, 
the new Program will be largely focused on individual rights and 
less focused on security policy. 
 
EXPECTED LEGISLATION 
 
¶6.  (U)  Given the results of the Commission's investigation and the 
priorities laid out by the upcoming Swedish Presidency, the 
 
BRUSSELS 00000447  002 OF 003 
 
 
following policy recommendations and initiatives are likely to be a 
part of the Stockholm Program; the High-level Advisory Group on the 
Future of European Justice Policy identified five clusters of policy 
recommendations.  First, legislation for better protection of 
citizens will likely include a minimum set of rights for the 
accused, measures to combat child sexual abuse, and reinforcing the 
Charter of Fundamental Rights.  Second, the program will seek to 
increase legal certainty in family, commercial, and civil law 
including by assessing impediments to marriage and inheritance 
recognition across states.  Third, to improve access to justice, the 
program will prioritize "e-justice" and seek to build trust among 
judicial and legal authorities.  Fourth, issues of organized crime 
could be addressed in the form of a strengthened European Evidence 
Warrant, cooperation with third states to gather evidence, and 
protection for those in danger because of their involvement in 
trials.  Fifth, external dimension policies could include support 
for the European Judicial Coordination Unit (EUROJUST) and the 
European Police Office (EUROPOL) in their cooperation with third 
countries, strengthening assistance to candidate and potential 
candidate countries, and developing a consistent and coherent JHA 
external relations policy. 
 
¶7.  (U)  The High-Level Advisory group on the Future of European 
Home Affairs Policy also identified five clusters of policy 
recommendations.  First, in preserving internal security and 
external stability, the Group recommended merging the Schengen 
Information System (SIS), the Visa Information System (VIS), and 
Eurodac (a system that compares fingerprints of asylum applicants) 
into a single structure; evaluating the Joint Situation Center's 
coordination of information in the fight against terrorism; and 
establishing a Police and Customs Cooperation Center model.  Second, 
in migration, asylum, external borders, and integration affairs, 
policies will likely focus on a common asylum policy with an 
advisory European Asylum Support Office, greater use of Frontex-the 
EU's external borders management agency-in threat analysis and 
cooperation among member states, and a comprehensive immigration 
policy including relationships with third countries.  Third, to 
develop civil protection, the program might specify the development 
of a European policy on civil protection that maintains the state's 
responsibility and increases interoperability and training on civil 
protection.  Fourth, the group recommends using new technologies and 
information networks, such as a European Security "Tool Box" of 
effective security tools and implementing an EU Information 
Management Strategy.  Fifth, external dimension policies might 
include using a differentiated approach in dealing with third 
countries, strengthening ties with neighboring countries and 
strategic partners such as the U.S. and Russia, and intensifying 
cooperation among ministers of Home Affairs. 
 
FEW POLITICAL OBSTACLES 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Few, if any, political obstacles should hinder 
preparation and approval of the Stockholm Program.  Officials of the 
Czech Republic had wanted to write and have the program adopted by 
the end of their presidency in June 2009, thus having the honor of 
naming it the "Prague Program";  however, the June 2009 date was 
unrealistic.  Nevertheless, the Czechs have pushed to temper the 
ambition of the Stockholm Program, suggesting it should be limited 
to only those policies and objectives that they know can be 
fulfilled.  The final agenda will likely be a balance of ambition 
and pragmatism. 
 
EFFECTS OF LISBON TREATY 
 
¶9.  (U)  BACKGROUND: The Treaty on European Union (aka Maastricht, 
effective 1993) originally set out three pillars of the EU's main 
policy areas:  1) the "European Community," 2) the "Common Foreign 
and Security Policy," and 3) "Justice and Home Affairs."  Of 
particular importance to JHA are the first and third pillars.  The 
first pillar concerns those areas of Community competence, such as 
Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and social policy, where 
decision-making is by qualified majority.  The third pillar is more 
intergovernmental and, at the time, covered such areas as visa, 
asylum, combating terrorism, drug trafficking, and other areas of 
criminal and judicial cooperation.  Decisions in the third pillar 
require consensus agreement among all 27 member states, thereby 
giving each member state a de facto veto. 
 
¶10.  (U) BACKGROUND CONTINUED: The Treaty of Amsterdam (effective 
1999) moved visa, asylum, and immigration from the third pillar to the 
first pillar of EU structures, thus bringing those areas under 
Community competence and implying more powers for the Commission and 
European Parliament to define EU-wide policies.  The original third 
pillar established under the Treaty on European Union was then 
renamed "Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters" and, 
therefore, currently covers cooperation in fighting crime (illicit 
drugs and arms, terrorism, trafficking and sexual abuse, fraud, 
etc.) and continues to be governed by an inter-governmental approach 
where member states have most authority. However, the phrase 
"Justice and Home Affairs" (also known as Justice, Freedom, and 
Security-JLS) now refers to all areas covered under the third pillar 
as well as those transferred to the first pillar under Amsterdam. 
 
BRUSSELS 00000447  003 OF 003 
 
 
END BACKGROUND 
 
¶11. (U) Under the Treaty of Lisbon, ratification of which is still 
pending, the current three-pillar structure of the EU will formally 
disappear and new roles for the various EU bodies will be defined. 
In JHA, police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters-policies 
under what is now the third pillar-will become subject to the 
"Community" method, much in line with the other JHA policies under 
what is now the first pillar.  This will essentially include 
expanding the scope of application of co-decision, meaning greater 
involvement of the European Parliament on an equal footing with the 
EU Council.  More so, the renamed Treaty on the Functioning of the 
European Union (TFUE) will increase recourse to qualified-majority 
voting (instead of unanimity) in the Council and grant jurisdiction 
by the Court of Justice (ECJ) over areas of JHA.  Many previously 
intergovernmental projects will move under the competency of the 
Commission and the European Parliament will be more involved. 
Member states will retain the possibility of blocking measures 
threatening "fundamental aspects" of their judicial systems and of 
proceeding with arrangements for "enhanced cooperation" among a 
limited number of countries.  That is to say some member states (UK, 
Ireland, and Denmark) secured the right to "opt-out" from EU 
measures, while a cluster of nine or more member states will be 
allowed to "differentiate," or, to choose to increase their level of 
cooperation beyond that agreed upon as EU-wide action. 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  The Swedes appear to be more confident about pushing 
through a somewhat ambitious Program agenda during their presidency. 
 Nevertheless, compared to the previous Programs, this one will also 
be more pragmatic, emphasizing enforcement of current laws and 
regulations over passage of new ones.  It will build upon the 
principles of "mutual recognition"; i.e., confidence in each other's 
justice systems, and of "availability"; i.e., making information and 
evidence held in one member state available to another where it is 
needed.  Although the Program emphasizes the rights of the 
individual, including the rights of the accused, it appears to be 
lacking on the rights of victims.  However, the Swedes may be likely 
to insert more language to this effect as the drafting process 
proceeds.  Because of the scope of changes already in store for 2009 
in the EU-European Parliament elections, election of a new 
Commission, and a change to the institutional structure of the 
Union, should the Lisbon Treaty be adopted-it is likely many 
reforms, including those in JHA, will be implemented cautiously. 
 
MURRAY