EC (Interior Ministers Meeting) (Hansard, 21 October 1986)

§ Mr. Hurd

The conclusions of the meeting were set out in the Presidency statement which I made at the end of the meeting, the text of which is as followsCommunity Ministers responsible for immigration, counter-terrorism and drugs and a Vice-President of the Commission met today to study new measures designed to maitain and strengthen safeguards against terrorists, drug traffickers and others involved in serious crime and against illegal immigration, in the light of the progress being made towards freer movement within the Community.

Immigration We all want the minimum of inconvenience to travellers within the Community. Convenient travel, reduced delays at frontiers, is good for people and for business. But we also have a duty to protect the citizens of the Community. So we have all agreed to work towards a system of easier frontier formalities for Community citizens that is not open to abuse. We set up a working group to consider urgently:

(i) stronger checks at external Community frontiers;
(ii) the contribution which internal checks can make;
(iii) the role of co-ordination of visa policies of member states in improving controls;
(iv) the role and effectiveness of frontier controls at internal frontiers in the fight against terrorism, drugs, crime and illegal immigration;
(v) exchange of information about the operation of spot check systems;
(vi) close co-operation to avoid the abuse of passports;
(vii) measures to achieve a common policy to eliminate the abuse of the right of asylum;
(viii) examination of ways in which the convenience of Community travellers can be improved without adding to the terrorist threat or the risks of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other crime.

Terrorism The meeting noted the progress made on implementing the decisions taken on 25 September. Procurement of the equipment for the secure communications link between police forces is being urgently pursued. Work continues on intensifying liaison between counter terrorist experts. Arrangements have been set in place for the mutual exchange of information about people excluded from the territory of one member state so that others can have advance warning of possible risk.

Drugs We agreed that the Community and its member states have a major role to play in stepping up the fight against drug abuse. We have agreed a seven point plan to cover: measures to reduce demand for drugs especially among young people; measures to improve the treatment of addicts and rehabilitation services; ensuring that bilateral and Community aid supports as appropriate a recipient country's efforts to combat drug abuse; steps to ensure that legislation takes account of the need to maintain effective control over illicit drug trafficking, particularly at the Community's external frontiers; 801W mutual enforcement of confiscation orders relating to drug traffickers' assets; enhanced co-operation between law enforcement agencies involving exchange of drug liaison officers between member states, the posting of drug liaison officers to other countries and the establishment of a world-wide directory of those involved in the fight against drug abuse: this would be achieved by inviting Trevi to examine the scope for creating a co-ordinated network of drug liaison officers to monitor developments in producer countries; preparation of joint assessment by Community ambassadors in drug producing countries in order to ensure a steady flow of recommendations for action by the Twelve.