Ministers criticise justice and home affairs plan

Member states unhappy with parts of the Stockholm action plan.

Interior ministers today criticised the European Commission for its handling of the Stockholm Programme, the Union’s five-year action plan for justice and home affairs.

The ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, merely “took note” of the Commission’s plan to implement the programme, whereas in previous years they formally adopted the plan.

“Some of the actions proposed by the Commission are not in line with the Stockholm Programme,” they wrote in their conclusions, while parts of the programme were left out of the action plan.

A spokesperson for Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for home affairs, said: “Both the spirit and the wording of the Stockholm Programme in the field of home affairs are clearly reflected in the action plan.”

The decision not to adopt the action plan has no practical implications as it is up to the Commission, as a rule, to propose legislation in the area of justice and home affairs. The Commission has made it clear that it intends to follow its plan.

A member state diplomat said that the tussle was mainly the result of new commissioners asserting their authority over the member states. The action plan is the responsibility of Malmström and Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice.

An official said that the Council of Ministers and the Commission had held numerous consultation meetings on the action plan but the Commission submitted it to the Council with a demand that it was not amended.

“The Council pushed back against the Commission quite strongly,” the official said.

Another source said that almost all member states took issue with at least some items in the action plan, notably over immigration and asylum.

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