At an informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 28 and 29 January, Luxembourg Justice Minister Luc Frieden, outlined a plan for a central, directly searchable register of all individuals convicted of a criminal offence in any member state. The register would not, however, carry any details of the offence and such information could only be obtained on direct request between member state authorities.
Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini was keen to push ahead with the measure, stressing that it was an essential step towards the mutual recognition by member state courts of criminal convictions handed down in another member state, a step which did find general support. However, some delegations, notably Spain and Germany, were concerned at the cost of the scheme and problems with data protection.
Ministers did agree that Europe-wide co-operation between police and other security authorities should be strengthened through a Permanent Internal Security Committee, a new body authorised under the Constitution and set to be operational by January 2008. The ambit of responsibility of this committee is not yet fully set but it would supplement the work of existing operational bodies such as Europol and Eurojust.
Mr Frieden also pledged that the Luxembourg Presidency would push ahead with measures to combat racism and xenophobia throughout the Union and that the banning of Nazi symbols would be one of the issues considered.
