HC Deb 13 April 1999 vol 329 c19W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, by Treaty Article, those elements of the Amsterdam Treaty in which, during the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council of 12 March, he indicated a willingness to participate. [80150]

Kate Hoey

At the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 12 March, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary indicated that the United Kingdom was interested in developing co-operation with European Union partners on asylum and civil judicial co-operation, as well as in immigration policy and co-operation against illegal immigration. Such co-operation would be subject to the conditions laid down in the Protocol on the Position of the United Kingdom and Ireland and would take place only where there was no conflict with the maintenance of our frontier controls. The relevant Articles are Articles 61 to 69 of Title IV of the Treaty establishing the European Community, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam.

My right hon. Friend also indicated the United Kingdom's intention to continue to play a full role in law enforcement and criminal judicial co-operation and, in accordance with the Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the framework of the European Union, to seek participation in the Schengen acquis in the areas of police and criminal judicial co-operation, including the Schengen Information System. The legal basis for the Schengen acquis within the European Union Treaties has not yet been decided but the areas of police and criminal judicial co-operation are broadly covered by Articles 29-42 of the Treaty on European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam.