Statement to Parliament by the Prime Minister Tony Blair on the Tampere European Council

19 October 1999

With your permission, Madam Speaker, I should like to make a statement.

Together with my right honourable Friends, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, I attended a special meeting of the European Council from 14 to 16 October, in Tampere, Finland. The main purpose of the meeting was to agree the priorities for action by the European Union and Member States in the field of Justice and Home Affairs.

We agreed action in three areas. First, on asylum and immigration we agreed:

A common approach to the way in which Member States deal with applications for asylum, to remove the incentive for asylum seekers to shop around, and to ensure that asylum seekers are dealt with in the first EU Member State they enter.

Effective action against illegal immigration, especially against trafficking in people.

A commitment by all EU Member States, to treat third country nationals who are legally resident in their countries fairly and without discrimination. All EU countries are now committed to providing equal access to education, health care and other benefits, as we do already for long-term residents in the UK.

Action in relation to the six countries of concern studied by the High Level Working Group, set up late last year - Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Morocco, Albania and Iraq - using a broad approach involving all available EU policy instruments to tackle poverty and other root causes of migration.

Second, on judicial cooperation, we agreed that there were important areas where court decisions in one jurisdiction should be recognised elsewhere in the EU. This is needed to provide legal redress for individuals and companies when their problems, in business or leisure, originate in another Member State; and to cooperate better in bringing criminals to justice.

The British proposal that the cornerstone of policy in this area should be mutual recognition of court decisions, rather than the harmonisation of laws, was adopted unanimously. The European Council agreed that there must be drastic simplification of the present, slow and laborious arrangements for giving effect in one Member State to the decisions of a court in another Member State.

The European Council also decided that practical steps should be taken - for example agreeing on common procedures for making small claims across internal EU borders together with better information available to the public - in order to improve the access of all Member States' citizens to justice throughout the European Union.

Third, on Combating Cross-Border Crime the European Council decided on a series of measures:

At the United Kingdom's suggestion, there is to be a new Task Force of European Police chiefs working alongside EuroPol, to plan and organise joint police operations across Europe. There was also agreement on our proposal to set up a European Police College.

A new body will be established, consisting of national prosecutors, magistrates and police officers, to assist and support investigation of organised crime and the prosecution of those involved.

The principle of mutual recognition should apply to judicial decisions in criminal cases, particularly those required to secure evidence and seize assets.

Action will be taken in due course to replace extradition with a simplified system for convicted criminals. We will also develop a fast track extradition process for those accused of serious crime.

In addition, we agreed on a new focus among Member States on youth crime, crime prevention and the protection of the victims of crime.

A comprehensive list of the action agreed by the European Council is to be found in the Council's Conclusions, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

Other Issues

In addition to its main business, the Council discussed the situation in Pakistan, following the military takeover there. It also had a preliminary discussion of the prospects for EU Enlargement, an issue which will be a major topic for the Helsinki European Council in December. It was unanimously agreed that our commitment to enlargement must proceed.

Beef

In the margins of the European Council I made clear to the Prime Minister of France and the President of the European Commission that France's failure to permit the sale of British beef was unacceptable, and that the French government had to implement the EU decision.

The EU Scientific Committee is due to complete its review of the French Advisory Committee's report before the end of this month. If there is no new scientific evidence, the President of the Commission has agreed with me that he will insist that France implements the earlier ruling, and will take legal action if the French Government fails to do so.

We will pursue every available avenue to ensure that British farmers can exercise their right under European law to sell beef throughout the EU, and of course it is only because of European law that we are able to do this with the backing of the law.

Madam Speaker, at the Tampere Council we restated and safeguarded essential British national interests on asylum and immigration. We reached agreements with our European partners on law and order issues, which of their nature do not respect national boundaries and where international cooperation is vital. We restated the overwhelming scientific evidence on the safety of British beef and the fundamental importance of swift observance by the French government of European Union law. In short it was, I believe, a successful Council in which we engaged constructively with our European partners in support of British national interests.