Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2005)124-3 - Specific Programme “Prevention of and Fight against Crime” for the Period 2007-2013, General Programme “Security and Safeguarding Liberties” - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2005)124-3 - Specific Programme “Prevention of and Fight against Crime” for the Period 2007-2013, General Programme “Security and ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2005)124  |
| date | 06-04-2005 |
The preparation of the financial perspectives for 2007-2013 has been guided from the outset by a policy-led approach, in order to ensure consistency between political objectives and the amounts allocated to pursue them. In this context, the establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice is considered to be one of the main priorities of the European Union for the years to come, to be supported through substantially increased financial means. In its Communications ' Building our common Future - Policy challenges and Budgetary means of the Enlarged Union 2007-2013 '[12] and ' Financial Perspectives 2007 – 2013 '[13], the Commission also underlined the importance of using the revision of the legal instruments for the next financial perspectives to create a significant movement towards greater simplicity. Structuring its proposals around three general and policy-led programmes (“Solidarity and management of migration flows”, “Fundamental Rights and Justice”, “Security and safeguarding freedoms”), the Commission sets out a clear framework for the development of financial interventions of the Community in support of the three objectives of Justice, Freedom and Security.
Within its objective of maintaining and developing the Union as an area of freedom, security and justice, the Union is committed to providing citizens with a high level of security by developing actions for preventing and combating terrorism. The identification of a strong need for numerous actions in this policy area has led to a process under which the Union’s role has been constantly increasing. In addition to various measures taken in the area of law enforcement, efforts on prevention, preparedness and consequence management need to be reinforced.
In its Declaration on solidarity against terrorism of 25 March 2004, the European Council held that further action was needed to enhance the capability of the Union and its Member States to deal with the consequences of terrorist attacks and to alleviate the consequences of attacks on the civilian population. In its conclusions on the fight against terrorism in June 2004, the European Council invited the Council and the Commission “to assess the capabilities of Member States both in preventing and coping with the consequences of any type of terrorist attack, to identify best practices and to propose the necessary measures. Existing cooperation on civil protection should be enhanced, reflecting the will of Member States to act in solidarity in the case of terrorist attack in any Member State or in the case of attack against EU citizens living abroad”. This work is currently being taken forward within the framework of the Community Civil Protection Mechanism, which focuses specifically on the civil protection aspects and addresses the immediate consequences of major emergencies irrespective of their nature.
In response, the Commission adopted on 20th October 2004 three Communications on prevention, preparedness and response to terrorist attacks, on preparedness and consequence management in the fight against terrorism, and on protection of critical infrastructure.
The Council referred to these Communications in its Conclusions on Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Terrorist attacks which were adopted on 2nd December 2004 including the EU Solidarity Programme on the Consequences of terrorist threats and attacks. The EU Solidarity Programme replaces a previous programme on CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorist threats).
The Council concluded that the Commission will set up within the existing structures an integrated EU arrangement for managing crises with cross border effects within the EU. The “ARGUS” system will be the logistical interface that will ensure rapid information flow between all existing rapid alert systems aimed at maximising safety and security, including a network of law enforcement authorities. A Crisis Centre will be established in the Commission, which would coordinate efforts so as to evaluate the practicable options for action and to decide on the appropriate response measures during a crisis. A critical infrastructure warning information network (CIWIN) will be set up as part of the establishment of a European Programme for the Protection of Critical Infrastructure (EPCIP) and will also be linked to ARGUS. The Council underlined the need for an integrated, security-oriented approach. Regarding critical infrastructure, the Council referred particularly to risk and threat assessments, detection and identification of terrorist threats. On the whole, a more comprehensive, integrated and operational approach on security issues is needed, which goes hand in hand with re-allocating priorities for financial intervention.
Moreover, The Hague Programme in its point 2.4 laid down clearly that “the European Council calls for the Council and the Commission to set up within their existing structures, while fully respecting national competences, integrated and coordinated EU crisis management arrangements for crises with cross-border effects within the EU, to be established at the latest by 1 July 2006”.
On the financial side, the Commission’s response to these needs and requirements is a comprehensive general programme on Security and safeguarding Liberties , including an instrument on prevention, preparedness and consequence management of terrorism, which will aim at ensuring proper implementation of specific mechanisms as mentioned above and at effective protection of vulnerable infrastructure against terrorism threats. Complementary to the latter instrument, the general programme comprises an instrument on Prevention of and Fight against Crime. The structure of both specific programmes will be aligned as far as possible.
The specific programme Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism will concentrate on preventing and reducing the risk of a terrorist attack and on protecting critical infrastructure. It will also include consequence management measures to the extent that these are not covered by the Rapid Response Instrument in the event of major emergencies and that they support the EU as an area of Freedom, Security and Justice. It. will provide means for EU wide projects initiated and managed by the Commission, allow for co-funding of transnational projects and also for projects within Member States (national projects), to further stimulate innovations with a view to transferring the gained experience to the transnational and/or EU level. In particular, the type of national projects is deemed to boost modern technology and methodology on prevention, preparedness and consequence management with regard to terrorism. As the civil society has to keep up with increasingly sophisticated methods of terrorists, this additional step is essential.
a) Definition of general, specific and operational objectives
The overall objective of the general programme Security and Safeguarding Liberties is to guarantee citizens’ rights and liberties within an area of freedom, security and justice and to protect them against criminal acts, which can threaten both individual liberties, democratic society and the rule of law. The specific programme Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism shall contribute to protect citizens, their liberties and society against terrorist attacks and related incidents, and to safeguard the EU as an area of Freedom, Security and Justice, by stimulating, promoting and developing measures on preparedness and consequence management.
On prevention and preparedness to terrorist attacks, the specific programme will aim at:
- stimulating, promoting, and supporting risk and threat assessments on critical infrastructure, including evaluations on site, to identify possible targets of terrorist attacks and possible needs for upgrading their security,
- promoting and supporting the development of common security standards, and an exchange of know-how and experience on protection of critical infrastructure,
- promoting and supporting EU wide co-ordination and cooperation on critical infrastructure protection.
On consequence management regarding terrorist attacks, the specific programme will aim at:
- stimulating, promoting and supporting exchange of know-how, experience and technology on the potential consequences of terrorist attacks,
- stimulating, promoting and supporting the development of relevant methodology and contingency plans, and
- ensuring real-time input of specific expertise on terrorism matters within overall crisis management, rapid alert and civil protection mechanisms.
When preparing the specific programme, particular attention was given to ensure coherence, complementarity and synergy with other programmes financing actions in neighbouring or related policy fields, for which support must be provided under different Treaty bases.
First, the specific programme is complemented by a second instrument under the general programme Security and Safeguarding Liberties, the specific programme Prevention of and Fight against Crime , which focuses on law enforcement and crime prevention in the sense of Title VI of the Treaty on European Union. Second, complementarity is ensured with the corresponding general programmes on Fundamental Rights and Justice , and Solidarity and management of migration flows as concerns such issues as assistance to victims, judicial cooperation in criminal matters and illegal immigration.
Third, the programme is complementary to other Community programmes such as the new Rapid Response and Preparedness Instrument for major emergencies, the Framework Programme on Research & Technological development, the new EU Solidarity Instrument i, or the structural funds i. Those new Instruments will provide Community funding to cope with major emergency situations in general, including immediate response (e.g. deployment of resources to combat a disaster), financial assistance to cope with emergencies in the aftermath of a crisis, and to a limited extent preparation to rapid response. To this general mechanism, the prevention, preparedness and consequence management strand of the general programme Security and Safeguarding Liberties will add specific measures on terrorist threats.
In the area of terrorism, there is a need for a specific security setting and expertise which goes beyond general safety and civil protection concepts. For instance, the vulnerability of infrastructure to terrorist attacks needs to be assessed under specific security terms and standards, which need to be developed in addition to general safety standards. In this vein, the specific programme Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence management of Terrorism focuses on threat and risk assessments, analysing what needs to be added to general safety mechanisms in order to protect critical infrastructure effectively against terrorist attacks, or developing specific contingency plans i. It is then mainly the responsibility of the Member States to upgrade the security of their infrastructure according to the identified needs, supported if need be by the structural funds, or certain sectoral programmes (e.g. in the area of transport, energy, public health or environment). In any case, the specific objectives of the instrument on Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism avoid overlapping with such Community funding mechanisms.
The working paper of the Commission presenting the ex-ante evaluation and preliminary impact assessment of the specific programme Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism shows the appropriateness of the policy option chosen to achieve the goals envisaged.
In the absence of a specific provision, Article 308 of the Treaty establishing the European Community is the appropriate legal basis not only for civil protection, but also for related measures on prevention, preparedness and consequence management.
Under the current Treaties, the procedure for the adoption of legal instruments in this area differs considerably from that on police and law enforcement cooperation (the latter being subject to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union). Therefore, it is not possible to combine all relevant objectives of the general programme in one single legal instrument. This is why two instruments are being proposed: a specific programme on Prevention of and Fight against Crime based on the Treaty on European Union i, and another specific programme on Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism, based on the Treaty establishing the European Community.
The following different types of actions are envisaged:
- projects with a European dimension initiated and managed by the Commission, inter alia coordination mechanisms and networks, analytical activities including studies and activities aiming at developing solutions which are specifically related to concrete policy projects;
- transnational projects initiated and managed by at least two Member States (or one Member State and an applicant country) under the conditions set out in the annual work programmes;
- national projects within Member States under the conditions set out below and further conditions set out in the annual work programmes;
It is foreseen that national projects will only be eligible as starter measures or complementary measures (preparing or complementing transnational or European projects), if they have a potential for transferability of results to EU level or if they otherwise contribute considerably to developing a Union policy.
The proposal respects the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty establishing the European Community and its accompanying Protocol. As regards subsidiarity, the proposed programme does not attempt to intervene in the areas that are covered by national programmes developed by national authorities in each Member State but to focus on areas where added value on European level is to be expected. To this extent, the majority of the activity supported by the programme can be viewed as complementary to the national programmes and as seeking to maximise synergies from actions implemented by two or more Member States (which may include candidate countries).
As regards proportionality, the proposal has been designed to maximise simplification in terms not only of the form of the action – the definitions of actions in the legislative text are kept as generic as possible – but also in terms of the administrative and financial requirements that will apply to their implementation. The Commission has sought to find the right balance between flexibility and ease of use on the one hand, and clarity of purpose and appropriate financial and procedural safeguards on the other.
Following the guidelines indicated in the protocol on the application of both principles, it is clear that the issues which this programme intends to address have transnational aspects and therefore any action at Union level will be beneficial compared with actions at the level of the Member States.
This strand of the general programme Security and Safeguarding Liberties will be directly managed by the Commission and will be implemented by two main types of action: calls for proposals to fund projects presented in the framework of the objectives envisaged and actions directly developed by the Commission in order to achieve the objectives mentioned but also to monitor and assess the results and to suggest adaptations and modifications if needed.
The proposed approach will contribute to the key objective of simplifying instruments both in legal and management terms and of streamlining the budget structure. It will also increase coherence and consistency between and avoid duplication of instruments. Whilst additional human resources will be necessary to cope with future enlargements, a better allocation of human resources will be achieved by discontinuing smaller budget lines (which are resource-intensive) and regrouping existing programmes into a single, coherent and streamlined general programme. This will result in more proportionality between expenditure and associated administrative costs.
The proposed rationalisation will also benefit the end user as it increases the visibility, clarity and coherence of these instruments. Potential beneficiaries will find it easier to apply for funding thanks to the standardised approach and harmonised implementing provisions.
The Commission may decide to entrust part of the budget implementation for the programme to an executive agency, referred to in Article 54(2)(a) of the Financial Regulation. This type of agency may be established by the Commission in conformity with the provisions of the Financial Regulation and its implementing rules as well as Council Regulation (EC) n° 58/2003 laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes. Before its decision, the Commission would establish a cost-benefit analysis identifying the tasks justifying outsourcing, the costs of coordination and checks, the impact on human resources, possible savings, efficiency and flexibility in the implementation of outsourced tasks, simplification of the procedures used, proximity of outsourced activities to final beneficiaries, visibility of the Community and the need to maintain and adequate level of know-how inside the Commission.
Contents
- BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
- 2. JUSTIFICATION OF THE ACTION
- 2.1. Analysis of the problem
- 2.2. The way forward
- 2.3. Objectives of the programme
- b) Complementarity/coherence with other instruments
- 3. EVALUATION
- 4. LEGAL BASIS AND RATIONALE OF THE POLICY INSTRUMENT
- 4.1. Legal basis
- 4.2. Actions defined within the programme
- 4.3. Subsidiarity and proportionality
- 4.4. Policy instrument
- 4.5. Simplification and rationalisation
- 6. CONCLUSION
The overall amount foreseen for the general programme Security and Protection of Liberties is 745 million euro for the period 2007-2013 (in current prices). Within this envelope, 142.4 million euro are foreseen for the specific programme for the programme Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism.
The proposed new instrument follows the path that was determined by the Commission in what concerns the political and financial challenges as from 2007 on. The intention is to complement, simplify and rationalise the existing instruments and to ensure the necessary flexibility to face new objectives and to respond in a smooth way to the new legal framework that will be established once the Constitutional Treaty enters into force.