Dealing with immigration and taking on the terrorists
The EU is to get new powers over justice, and Spain is affected more than most.
At their summit today and tomorrow (10-11 December), EU leaders will sign off on a five-year plan that will give the EU greater responsibility in judicial and home affairs, traditionally one of the most sensitive areas of EU co-operation.
The task of beginning to oversee implementation of the Stockholm Programme, which was drafted by Sweden, will fall to Spain, one of the countries most affected by two of the issues in the plan: illegal immigration and asylum.
As the presidency, Spain will have an opportunity, with input from the European Commission, to set the agenda and lead discussions as the EU works through the legislative and non-legislative proposals expected to be presented between 2010-14.
Immigration burden
Burden-sharing is likely to be a particularly salient topic of discussion. Concern about the impact on frontline states was evident in the European Parliament’s debate on the programme in November, and a pledge to provide extra funding to member states with overcrowded prisons was seen as a concession to Italy for its carrying a large share of the immigration burden.
Spain is already pressing other member states to support the creation of a mechanism that would enable asylum-seekers to be resettled within the EU, so that the costs would not fall exclusively on those countries that migrants first reach.
It also wants additional resources for Frontex, the EU’s border security agency. Observers have questioned the role that Frontex, which uses member states’ assets, has played in efforts by several member states (primarily Italy) to turn migrants back. They argue that, in the process, genuine asylum-seekers have been denied their rights.
Such questions are likely to emerge in Spain’s work with the first European commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, Viviane Reding.
Spain is also expected to use its presidency for a greater EU role in combating internal terrorism, a central focus of the national security strategy that Spain is currently drafting. Together with Greece, Spain is the only member state with a significant home-grown terrorist threat. Other member states are lukewarm about the idea of a European role in combating domestic terrorism.