NINETEENTH REPORT
27 JULY 1999
By the Select Committee appointed to consider Community
proposals, whether in draft or otherwise, to obtain all necessary
information about them, and to make reports on those which, in
the opinion of the Committee, raise important questions of policy
or principle, and on other questions to which the Committee considers
that the special attention of the House should be drawn.
ORDERED TO
REPORT
PROSPECTS FOR THE TAMPERE SPECIAL EUROPEAN
COUNCIL
PART
1: INTRODUCTION
1. A Special European Council is to be held in Tampere,
Finland, on 15 and 16 October 1999. This will be the first ever
summit of the Heads of State and Government of the European Union
dedicated to justice and home affairs.
2. Taking place only a few months after the entry
into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam the summit offers a unique
opportunity for the European Union to further define the content
and the priorities of the "area of freedom, security and
justice" established by the new Treaty. As a result of the
Amsterdam reforms the European Union has been vested with a whole
range of new objectives and possibilities for action in justice
and home affairs. The Tampere European Council is expected to
provide political guidelines on how these should be used to give
substance to the concept of an "area of freedom, security
and justice".
STRUCTURE
OF THIS REPORT
3. This report was written with two aims in mind.
The first aim was to inform the House about this significant development
in EU policy-making in the area of justice and home affairs. To
this end, we set out in Part 2 a summary of the Treaty provisions
in this area, and give an account of the preparations being made
for the summit. Secondly, we offer our opinions on the agenda
for the summit. A summary of the evidence we took is to be found
in Part 3, and our opinion is contained in Part 4.
WITNESSES
AND VISITS
4. The enquiry was carried out by Sub-Committee F
(Social Affairs, Education and Home Affairs), whose members are
listed in Appendix 1. The Specialist Adviser was Professor Jörg
Monar, of the Centre for European Politics and Institutions at
the University of Leicester. Oral and written evidence was received
from the bodies and individuals listed in Appendix 2. The Sub-Committee
wishes to record its thanks to Professor Monar, to the witnesses
and to all others who have helped with the enquiry. The Sub-Committee
visited Brussels in the course of the enquiry, and was most grateful
to Sir Stephen Wall, United Kingdom Permanent Representative to
the European Union, and the staff of UKREP for all of their help
in connection with that visit.
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