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Spring 2002: From Tampere To Sevilla: An Overview Of Security In Europe (Part. I)
From Tampere to Seville, toward Excessive Government in Transnational Leadership (PDF, 13 pages, 44.3 KB) , by Didier Bigo & Elspeth Guild
Recent transnational trends in governmental cooperation are criticised. Politicians at various summits make policies and decisions influenced by governments. Outcomes of several G7, G8, and EU summits are evaluated. Alternative "counter-summits" - e.g., at the WTO meeting in Seattle - have attempted to create spaces for popular dissent. These protests have themselves become transnational. Officials systematically and forcibly blocked one at Genoa. Transnational rights of association and demonstration must accompany transnational decision-making, if democracy and liberty are to endure.
The Amsterdam Treaty: Issues and Challenges concerning Equal Treatment (PDF, 7 pages, 26.4 KB) , by Isabelle Chopin
Several organizations and agreements have produced policies concerning equal treatment of races and nationalities in Europe. The 2000 Amsterdam Summit proposed a list of groups to protect from discrimination, a plan for opposing discrimination in the EU, a directive for instituting equal public and private treatment of racial and ethnic groups, as well as another directive protecting all the listed groups from workplace discrimination. Implementation of the new policies will affect the EU's structure; a 5-year transitional period is planned. The inclusion of nongovernmental organizations in the anti-discrimination dialogue is commended. An appended excerpt from the European Council's official journal (19 July 2000) includes the directive on racial and ethnic discrimination.
Amsterdam and Tampere: The European Union and Immigrants from outside the Community (PDF, 12 pages, 40.2 KB) , by Elspeth Guild
The status of immigrants in the EU is updated. The 2000 Amsterdam Treaty transfers authority over immigration and asylum from the EU's intergovernmental pillar to its community pillar with the aim of maximizing human rights and free movement in Europe. Implications of the triangular relationship among immigrant, European Community, and member States are explored. Entailments of free movement are explained. The development of coordinated immigration rights is traced in a series of European accords; some nations' visa and border control rules have prevented an integrated policy within the EU. A limitation of the individual States' discretionary control over immigration is supported. The European Community's moral obligations to immigrants are sketched; human rights in a Europe without internal borders demand that the states transfer immigration and visa powers to the community.
Logics and Practices of the Delegating State: Transportation Companies as Indirect Immigration Contro (PDF, 31 pages, 90.3 KB) , by Virginie Guiraudon
A survey of the role of transportation laws in controlling immigration examines the case of airlines in France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, and the US. Historical and theoretical backgrounds are sketched. Practices and consequences resulting from the delegation of state powers to private agents are explained. Obligations related to security and travel documents affect airline operations and personnel, particularly at foreign airports. The enforcement of controls on immigration and on asylum is shown to cause difficulties for the airlines and for resident foreigners, to tempt the criminalized passengers to use other strategies, and to rob refugees of their human rights.
Repercussions of the Amsterdam Treaty and the Tampere Declaration on Police Institution (PDF, 8 pages, 29.4 KB) , by Malcolm Anderson
The EU documents' implications for European national and European Community police agencies are explored. These agreements contribute to EU policies of liberty, justice, human rights, free movement, asylum, immigration, border control, security, and cooperation in criminal matters; coordination in these areas will result in some integration of European police authority. Although the member states and their police agencies retain their authority over borders and policy, the European Commission has received new powers that will affect Europol's tasks and relations with national governments and police. Police roles implied by the treaty's and declaration's reforms are explained. Effects of a proposed European police academy are noted. Inadequacies of the current system of cooperation are listed; some risks might be associated with augmenting this cooperation, but several European institutions and nongovernmental organizations effectively protect civil liberties.
The Legalism Trap: Police Cooperation after the European Tampere Council (PDF, 8 pages, 29.5 KB) , by Heiner Busch
The legal status of European police cooperation is contrasted with Europol's actual practices: the laws concerning Europol are shown to legitimise policies and activities already accepted and practiced, e.g., in transnational anti-drug operations and data sharing. The methods and scope of international customs and undercover investigations are linked to judicial cooperation that runs ahead of international accords. Such practices by the authorities flout national law, police accountability, and civil rights. Discussions of international police cooperation must account for actual practices and not be limited to examination of laws and treaties.
A Common European Policy on Illegal Immigration? Sangatte and Beyond (PDF, 10 pages, 38.5 KB) , by Cultures & Conflits research team
European policies concerning illegal immigration are criticised in light of France and GB's agreement about Sangatte (a camp for illegal immigrants). Analytical frameworks that see illegal immigration as a cultural, criminal, or national security problem are contested. A more rational approach would be to consider who the illegal immigrants are, before making immigration laws. Australian immigration figures - analogous to those of European nations - reveal that typical illegal immigrants are young British or US citizens who have overstayed their visas in order to work or to enrol in a university; they are not criminals. Rather than being driven by emotion, immigration laws should be written to account for the realities of immigration.