Date of release : 02-02-2005

Policy area : Justice and Home Affairs Justice and Home Affairs

As part of his visit to the United States, the Luxembourg Minister for Justice and current President of the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union, Luc Frieden, was received by his US counterpart, John Ashcroft, on Tuesday, 1 February 2005.

This meeting mainly revolved around the strengthening of transatlantic judicial cooperation. The two ministers for justice officially acknowledged, through an exchange of written documents, that bilateral-extradition and judicial-assistance agreements between Luxembourg and the United States will apply in accordance with the provisions of the respective agreements between the European Union and the United States.

Luxembourg is the eighth Member State to sign these documents which complete the agreements between the EU and the US. The Luxembourg Presidency will try to ensure that the original 15 Member States complete their respective procedures before the end of June 2005, and that significant progress can be made in formulating these instruments for the 10 new Member States.

After signature and completion of the constitutional procedures for the original 15 Member States of the European Union, the Council will adopt the final, conclusive decision on these agreements. The practical methods of execution will be enforceable as European legislation in the countries involved.

Luc Frieden expressed his satisfaction with the progress made with regard to judicial cooperation in criminal matters between the EU and the US, as well as with transatlantic solidarity in the fight against international terrorism and all forms of organised crime. He also proposed to his US counterpart that an agreement should be sought between Eurojust and the US authorities, following the existing agreements between Europol and the US.

When questioned about the fight against terrorism, Luc Frieden also pointed out that new strategies had been developed to strengthen EU policies. The 25 Member States have adopted the Hague programme, which involves measures on information exchange, border control, document security, the fight against the financing of terrorism as well as police and judicial cooperation.

During his meeting with representatives of the Homeland Security department, Luc Frieden expressed the EU’s concern over the phenonmenon of radicalisation and recruitment for the purposes of terrorism, basing his argument on the conclusions of the European Council of December 2004. For its part, the US has announced that it intends to invest 12 million dollars in related research programmes, in which it is ready to involve European institutions.

Furthermore, the two parties were pleased that the Member States of the European Union had undertaken to systematically transmit to Interpol data relating to stolen or mislaid passports and underlined the need to assess the effectiveness of this cooperation on a regular basis.