European Commission
Malmström

Press Conference after the meeting

The rain was pouring down when we, a bit delayed, arrived to Luxembourg this morning. The road construction made the traffic slow down drastically. It was the first time the Council was held in the new Council building in Luxembourg, which is much nicer than the old one. However the coffee served in the meeting room is not any better than it was in the old building.

The Danish Presidency took us efficiently through the meeting agenda and there were many interesting political discussions. We discussed important issues such as migration flows, the asylum package and cooperation with Turkey for example. We also had a very good discussion on terrorism deriving from current threat assessments and on the proposals on better registration of explosives, the PNR proposal and the preventive measures to combat terrorism i.e. anti-radicalisation. These so called lone wolfs with extremist ideologies, for example Anders Breivik or Mohamed Merah in Toulouse, are today for many member countries the biggest threat. Last year I launched the Anti Radicalisation Network in order to give a platform for experts on this subject, you can read more about the network here.

There was of course also a discussion about the French-German letter on Schengen that all member states had received ahead of the meeting. This should be seen in light of the election campaign in France but Schengen is far too important to be subject for such a debate. The Commission presented a proposal in September to strengthen Schengen, introducing better monitoring and evaluation, in order to make sure that Schengen is not taken hostage and that a reintroduction of border control is not used for domestic political reasons.

If borders are to be temporary reintroduced this must be as a last resort and if it is necessary it  should a common decision, taken at the European level. Schengen is one of the most concrete achievements for the approx 400 million citizens and we have to be very careful in order not to destroy the freedom of movement.

I will stay in Luxembourg over night to meet with the Justice Ministers tomorrow morning to discuss freezing and confiscation of criminal assets.

The sun has been shining in Rome, showing the city from its best side. I’m here to meet with various representatives from the new Government, the Parliament and other organisations.

The Italian government, led by Mario Monti, have totally different European interests than the former Government and it has therefore become a key ally, not least when it comes to my portfolio issues. Today I mainly discussed asylum, immigration, the situation in Lampedusa, integration and Schengen. I met with Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri, Minister for Integration, Andrea Riccardi, members from both the Chamber of Deputies and from the Senate, and several journalists.

I know Giorgio Napolitano from my time as a Member of the European Parliament, having spent five years in the same committee. He is the President of Italy and an impressive man of 85 years. We had the opportunity to meet and he has an astounding knowledge of all matters within the EU. Many people would say that he has been the only stable force in Italy for the recent years and he is very popular.

Meeting with Don Luigi Ciotti, President of Libera

Another important issue for Italy is organised crime and the fight against the mafia. A month ago I presented a proposal on confiscation of criminal assets and that’s an area where the Italians have great experience. In Italy, Mafia assets are turned into social benefits, to projects for the benefit of young people, victims and more. A senior person in this area is the priest Don Luigi Ciotti, founder of Libera, a network of over 1200 different associations, groups and schools working to combat organised crime, to support victims and promoting a society based on the rule of law. They have projects all over Italy and many of them are run with the money seized form the mafia. Tomorrow I will go and visit some of these projects.

I am in Strasbourg for the monthly meeting session. It has been two busy days. The College meeting of Commissioners, which are held on Tuesdays when we are in Strasbourg, was all about the budget and the situation ahead of the coming negotiations. I have also had a variety of meetings with Members of the European Parliament to talk about cyber, the asylum package, PNR, etc. The sun is shining outside and the park is full of storks.

I  had lunch with the Liberal Members of the LIBE Committee to discuss the near-term agenda and upcoming issues, such as the Schengen proposal and the asylum package, where the negotiations now are being intensified.

Earlier today we received a dreadful report from Amnesty International, which further demonstrates the Assad regime’s brutality in Syria. Media and other sources from Syria  reveal unbearable images of civilians killed and mutilated children. The massacre must stop.

Today I also suffer with the Belgian people who mourn all the children who died in a bus accident in Switzerland yesterday evening. Among those who survived many are injured and were taken to hospital. My thoughts are with their families.

Family Photo Informal Ministerial Copenhagen January 2012

Today is not only the Council meeting with the 27 Interior Ministers it is also International Women’s Day and therefore a good occasion to take note of the lack of women who will sit around the negotiating table today. There are 6 women and 21 men amongst the Ministers of Interior in Europe. Among the Ministers of Justice, who will not meet today, the distribution is slightly better – 9 women.

Political representation is a very good indication of how far we have come in terms of gender equality. A review of my own house – the Commission – does not provide more uplifting figures. One third of the Commissioners are women, 9 out of 27. But the High Representative for Foreign Policy and First Vice President is a woman: Catherine Ashton and we also have a female Secretary-General, Catherine Day. Out of the heads of Cabinet, only five out of 27 are women, one of whom, Maria Åsenius works with me. At the Director General level it is even worse. There, we find only two women among 36 men. An underlying factor is the lack of labour flexibility and availability of parental leave for both sexes. The Commission has an internal strategy and action plans to improve the situation. The most recent evaluation shows that the number of women in middle management positions has increased in recent years. Even if progress is still far too slow, it is at least going in the right direction.

The Commission has a strategy to work with member states to increase women’s participation, by reconciling work with private life, promoting female entrepreneurship and encouraging access to quality child care. Women’s participation in the labour market is now up to 63 %, compared with 52 % in 1998. The Commission’s objective is to reach 75 % by 2020. This is, however, dependent on member countries actively engaging and doing something about it and, above all, recognising the worth of increasing women’s participation in the labour market. Some estimates suggest that GDP will increase with between 15 % and 45 % if the difference in employment rates between men and women disappears.

Within my own portfolio, I have made several proposals taking into account women’s specific situation, for example, when it comes to asylum and reception conditions, where it should go without saying that a woman who suffered abuse requires extra care. And when it comes to developing a strategy to combat human trafficking, you have take into account the fact that up to 80 % of trafficking victims are women.

Today in the Council we will not discuss women’s political participation or status on the labour market. Instead, we will discuss the common asylum policy, the situation in Greece and the Schengen proposals. The Council is also expected to adopt two very important proposals that I have very actively pushed for. The first is a tightening the rules on imports and exports of firearms and the other is the common resettlement program. After years of negotiations, finally, the three institutions agreed on the European resettlement program that allows us to better pool our resources and assist the world’s most vulnerable refugees.

Long discussion in the morning meeting with the Commissioners today about Greece. It is absolutely necessary that the Greek government and all political parties pull themselves together and accept the demands of the IMF and the EU, but of course we all feel a great concern for the social situation and the harsh conditions that the Greek people are going through.

This afternoon I attended a hearing in the European Parliament on Schengen. The Danish Minister, Morten Bödskov, the European Parliament Rapporteurs on Schengen, were there among many others. It was very interesting. The question of how we can strengthen the Schengen cooperation is extremely important. This involves both improving the evaluation, so that we in time can detect and correct problems, but also how we can set up a mechanism to prevent Member States from unilaterally and arbitrarily impose border controls. There are clear differences of opinion, especially in the Council, and now we need to find a constructive compromise. Read my speech here.

Tomorrow I’m going to Stockholm to attend a seminar on organised crime and the money involved. Participants in the seminar include, the author Lasse Wierup and prosecutor Hans Ihrman. I will also have a number of other meetings, including with Minister of Justice, Beatrice Ask.

February 10th, 2010, was my first day as EU Commissioner. Two full years into my mandate, I can easily say that this has been two tough years. The economic crisis, with high levels of unemployment, has overshadowed all other policy areas. The Arab Spring has brought new hopes of democratic neighbours but also raised new challenges for them and for us.  They have clearly indicated the desire to cooperate with us on issues like migration, asylum, police, security and visa facilitation. This is also in our interest and therefore we are now preparing mobility partnerships with countries in the North African region, starting with Tunisia.

The events in southern Mediterranean have put pressure on the Schengen system, and in September last year I presented a proposal on how Schengen can be strengthened, safeguarding this fantastic achievement, but making sure that we improve our evaluation systems and minimize the risk of abuses. Negotiations are ongoing.

Since February 2010 we have advanced quite a lot in the work on the asylum package, although many difficulties remain. The deadline set by the European council, is 2012. We urgently need a system that is common in Europe, allowing asylum seekers to get the same treatment wherever they launch their application. Today, ten countries receive 90% of the asylum applications in the EU. With all countries having an administration and infrastructure in place, it will allow for a more even responsibility and solidarity between EU members.

We have adopted the long term residence directive, as well as the qualification direction and are very close to an agreement on the European Resettlement Program. The Asylum Support Office (EASO) in Malta is up and running, mainly assisting Greece where all member states, the commission and many others are involved to help the country to set up a reception system as well as build up a functioning border control. All member states participated in the Frontex/led RABIT-operation at the Greek/Turkish border.

In the field of legal migration we have agreement on the single permit and are well advanced in the directives on seasonal workers and Intra Corporate Transferees. This will protect legal migrants but also reduce bureaucracy in the member states. With my college Lazlo Andor we are planning further initiatives on labour skills needed for the future, including the need for further labour migration. In times where growth is desperately needed, we must make sure that we can get the best skills.

We have lifted the visa obligation for Albania and Bosnia and also started the dialogue with Kosovo, enabling easier people to people contact. Visa facilitation negotiations are ongoing with Russia, Moldova, Ukraine and soon hopefully with Turkey and Georgia.

In the security area I am most proud of the anti-trafficking directive that gives us better tools to fight this horrible modern slavery. With the employment of our anti-trafficking coordinator at the Commission’s Directorate-General for Home Affairs, I think we are better equipped than ever. Also, the directive on combating sexual violence and abuse of children is very dear to my heart and will help us to better protect the most vulnerable; our children.

In September last year I inaugurated RAN, the network that will help us prevent and identify violent radicalisation and extremism. The network is connecting local actors from all over Europe – academics, social workers, teachers, victims, and others to exchange information and best practices to prevent young people from falling into violent extremism. We have concluded negotiations on Passenger Name Records (PNR) with Australia and the U.S. and also put forward a proposal on a European PNR.

Corruption is a disease that eats confidence and trust and also erodes the legal economy. Last year I launched an anticorruption package, aiming for a report next year with tailor-made recommendations to all member states. To protect the licit economy is important, as well as restoring trust.

So a lot has been done since February 2010, but many things still remain. I am looking forward to all the possibilities and challenges of the rest of my mandate.

I am yet again in Copenhagen, for the third time this year, to speak at a conference on border cooperation and border control. Each year, 700 million people cross one of the EU’s 1800 land, sea and air border stations.

This number will increase dramatically in the coming years. So the question is how to manage this flow of people in a smart way. We want to make it easier for people (both EU citizens and third country nationals) to enter the EU quickly and without hassle. At the same time, we also need to use border controls more efficiently. We must of course also ensure that, for example, criminal offenders are not admitted into the EU. Yet, border controls must never be an obstacle for the right to seek asylum.

The Commission has developed proposals for a new system (an entry-exit system and a registered traveller program) to achieve all these objectives but it is important to have a proper discussion of how and why these objectives can and need to be reached. Many EU countries are on their way to building their own systems and thus, in our work it is important to build on what already exists.

At the conference there are experts from all Schengen member countries. Their views are incredibly valuable to have before we go ahead and put forward new proposals.

However, the most important thing is to first agree on the Schengen proposal I put forward last fall. Schengen allows for the free movement of 400 million citizens, but this can only work if people have confidence in the system. This confidence has been damaged by the dispute that took place between France and Italy last year, and by the former Danish government’s proposal to impose border controls and by Greece’s failure to control the external borders. We must therefore strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of Schengen and ensure that there are mechanisms in place that minimize the risk of a domestic political agenda putting the whole Schengen system in danger. Negotiations about the Schengen proposal are now underway in the Council and in the European Parliament and I had the opportunity to talk to the Danish Minister of Justice on the state of negotiations over lunch.

The Swedish National Police today released a report of the human trafficking situation in Sweden. The report points out that while there has been increase in forced labour and begging, sex trafficking has been reduced. According to the police, one of the reasons for the decline is “the tireless efforts to combat sex trafficking.” It is very gratifying to see that the number of human trafficking crimes for sexual purposes has been reduced and I am confident that the Swedish legislation on the purchase of sexual services contributes greatly to this. At the same time it is terrible to see human trafficking for other purposes, such as forced labour, has increased. Forced labour has received increasing attention lately and it appears to be increasing across Europe. This is a lucrative business, and unfortunately perceived as a relatively low risk crime given that so very few traffickers are convicted. We are currently reviewing the EU legislation to see how it can be updated to better combat this type of crime.

Today I met with Colin Predoiu, the Romanian Minister of Justice. We have met several times and I know that he works hard in Romania to strengthen the independence of the judiciary and fight against corruption – sometimes it’s an uphill battle. We talked about recent work in this area and about Schengen.

The entire Commission has been in Denmark to meet with the Danish Government and discuss cooperation over the next six months. Yesterday, we were also invited to the official inauguration of the Presidency, which was celebrated with a concert in the new Copenhagen concert hall.  Besides the Commission, the outgoing Council President Donald Tusk, the President of Cyprus (Cyprus takes over July 1st) and the European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek were also present.

The Danish Government takes over at a difficult time and, of course, the priority is to handle the economic crisis. But they also want to focus on growth issues, including green growth. This is extremely important. We will never get Europe back on its feet if we do not concentrate on growth.

We also had time to split into small groups to have some very rewarding discussions. This morning I met with Morten Bödskov, who, as Danish Interior Minister, will be my counterpart for the next six months. We have already met several times. His priorities are the Asylum Package and Schengen, and I look forward to working with him. The visit ended with lunch at Amalienborg with the Danish Queen and Prince.

Today in the Hague, Europol publicised great success in dismantling an amphetamine network operating in countries such as Sweden, Germany and Bulgaria. Thanks to police cooperation across borders, assisted by Europol, nine people have been arrested. Three sites for amphetamine production have been shut down in Bulgaria and weapons, ammunition and explosives have been seized. And more than one hundred kilograms of amphetamines have now been removed from the black market. It’s a great day for our European police cooperation.  For those interested in learning more about amphetamine use in Europe, there is an interesting EU report published before Christmas.

As of today, Liechtenstein is the latest country to become a Member of the Schengen area. Over 400 million Europeans from 26 European countries now enjoy passport-free travel across the Schengen area. With Liechtenstein joining today, we are further developing one of the most cherished achievements of the EU. More information here.