§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 4 July 2000,Official Report, column 166W, on the Schengen Agreement, if it his practice to assess the requirement to modify legislation resulting from accession to agreements with other countries prior to negotiating such agreements; what timescale is envisaged in the case of the Schengen acquis; and if he will make a statement. [130834]
§ Mrs. RocheThe Government's approach to agreements is taken on a case-by-case basis. In the case of partial participation in the Schengen acquis, the Government's objective was to benefit as far as possible from European Union co-operation on policing and judicial matters, commensurate with our Frontiers Protocol. We therefore accepted that legislation might be necessary and would be justified if better European Union co-operation was achieved as a result. As indicated in my reply to the hon. Member on 4 July 2000,Official Report, column 166W, the need to legislate was already implicit in the United Kingdom's agreement to a number of European Union instruments providing for judicial co-operation. Work on Schengen implementation has only recently begun and the timescale will be dependent in part on the Government's legislative timetable, in addition 364W to the time which will be required for the practical implementation of other items, such as the Schengen Information System.