meeting will be held on 11 July 2008 at the Paris-Sorbonne University
and will be jointly chaired by the general directors of police and
national gendarmerie.
The
meeting will bring together the Chiefs of Police of the acting Trio
Presidency of the Council of the European Union – France, the Czech
Republic and Sweden – the previous trio – Germany, Portugal and
Slovenia – as well as Spain, representing the next trio. The General Secretariat of the Council, the European Commission and the Director of Europol will also attend the meeting.
The
main item on the agenda will be the future of this Task Force. The
Chiefs of Police will meet for a three-day meeting following the
Informal JHA Council in Cannes, which will discuss the architecture of
Europe’s internal security. There are indeed plans within the European
Union to ensure the promotion and reinforcement of operational
cooperation with regard to internal security and, above all, to ensure
the coordination of actions undertaken by the competent authorities of
Member States. For this reason, it will be indispensable to consider
the evolution of the EPCTF. Participants in the meeting of 11 July will
to this effect have the opportunity to review its work in progress.
In
1999 the Tampere Council called for the creation of such a structure so
that police forces could, in cooperation with Europol, exchange
experiences, best practices and information on cross-border crime.
The
Commission had, however, pointed out the structural shortcomings of
this Task Force, which meets during every Presidency of the European
Council. These include too few meetings, inequalities between its
participants‘ levels of representation, overloaded agendas, etc.
In
addition to reflecting on its future, the Task Force of 11 July will
also prepare the two other meetings planned under the French
Presidency: the strategic Task Force of 22 October, in Brussels, and
the operational Task Force, to be held on 26 and 27 November in The
Hague.
Source: http://www.ue2008.fr
