Council Decision of 13 June 2002 adopting an action programme for administrative cooperation in the fields of external borders, visas, asylum and immigration (ARGO programme) (2002/463/EC)

Council Decision

of 13 June 2002

adopting an action programme for administrative cooperation in the fields of external borders, visas, asylum and immigration (ARGO programme)

(2002/463/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 66 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Whereas:

(1) Administrative cooperation between the Member States in the areas covered by Articles 62 and 63 of the Treaty is part of the Community's objective of progressively establishing an area of freedom, security and justice.

(2) Joint Action 98/244/JHA of 19 March 1998 adopted by the Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on the European Union, introducing a programme of training, exchanges and cooperation in the field of asylum, immigration and crossing of external borders (Odysseus programme)(3) has come to an end now that the budget allocation has been exhausted in 2001.

(3) Responsibility for controls at the EU's external borders will become all the more important now that a significant enlargement of the Union is scheduled to take place during the period in which the administrative cooperation in the fields of external borders, visas, asylum and immigration (ARGO) will be operational. Accordingly, ARGO should be seen simply as a modest forerunner of more extensive activities in this field.

(4) In accordance with the conclusions of the European Council in Tampere on 15 and 16 October 1999, the Commission has defined in its communication to the Council and the European Parliament on the biannual update of the scoreboard to review progress on the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice in the European Union (first half of 2001) an ambitious legislative programme that should lead to a new body of Community rules in the area of justice and home affairs that will have to be implemented by the Member States.

(5) Uniformity between the practices of the Member States when applying Community law can be obtained by strengthening cooperation and collaboration among their national agencies, and between them and the Commission.

(6) Individual action by each administration is incapable of achieving such results. A Community framework is therefore necessary for improving mutual understanding between the competent national agencies and the way they implement the relevant Community legislation, and for defining the priority areas of administrative cooperation required.

(7) A high level of training of equivalent quality throughout the Community is needed to guarantee the success of this action programme, taking advantage of the experience gained with the Odysseus programme.

(8) The implementation of a Community action programme constitutes one of the most effective ways of achieving these objectives and will provide a basis to the Commission for assessing whether establishing a common training institution would be a suitable way of improving the training in Community law given to the staff of the Member States.

(9) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(4).

(10) Action under this programme is to be complementary to and coordinated with other cooperation and training activities financed by the Community budget.

(11) In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Denmark is not participating in the adoption of this Decision, and is therefore not bound by it or subject to its application.

(12) In accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland annexed to the Treaty on the European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, the United Kingdom gave notice, by letter of 29 January 2002, of its wish to take part in the adoption and application of this Decision.

(13) In accordance with Article 1 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland annexed to the European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Ireland is not participating in the adoption of this Decision. As a result, and without prejudice to Article 4 of the said Protocol, the provisions of this Decision do not apply to Ireland.

(14) A financial reference amount within the meaning of point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 6 May 1999 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure(5) is included in this Decision for the entire duration of the programme, without thereby affecting the powers of the budgetary authority as they are defined in the Treaty,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

(1)

OJ C 25 E, 29.1.2002, p. 526.

(2)

Opinion delivered on 9 April 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(3)

OJ L 99, 31.3.1998, p. 2.

(4)

OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

(5)

OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.