§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made in the 559W implementation of each of the recommendations in the Action Plan Against Organised Crime adopted by the European Council in June. [21706]
§ Mr. Michael[holding answer 19 December 1997]: The Action Plan contains 30 individual recommendations with target dates ranging from the end of 1997 to the end of 1999. Work has begun on many, but it would be premature to report on progress with each of them now. It will be an important task under the forthcoming United Kingdom Presidency to prepare the progress report that the European Council has requested for its meeting in Cardiff in June. Particular achievements under the Luxembourg Presidency have been:
- the establishment of a new multidisciplinary group on organised crime to drive this work forward (recommendation 22)
- finalisation of the Naples II Convention on Customs co-operation (recommendation 14)
- agreement in principle of a funding programme for the fight against organised crime, the Falcone Programme (recommendation 11)
Substantial progress has also been made with a joint action on criminalisation of participation in a criminal organisation (recommendation 17), arrangements for mutual evaluation (recommendation 15) and the establishment of a judicial co-operation network (recommendation 25).