The Stockholm Programme
The European policy area 'freedom, security and justice' includes civil protection, police and customs cooperation, cooperation in the fields of criminal and civil law, asylum, migration, visas and external border controls, etc. The focus of cooperation is presented in multi-annual strategic work programmes. The first programme was adopted in 1999 in Tampere. It was followed by the Hague Programme, which expired in December 2009. The Stockholm Programme was adopted during the Swedish Presidency for the period 2010-2014.
The Programme emphasises that the interests and needs of citizens will form the basis of work over the next few years. The ambition is to create a more secure and more open Europe, where the rights of the individual are protected and cooperation focuses on measures that provide added value for individuals. The Programme also attaches great importance to how the EU should work to guarantee respect for fundamental freedoms and privacy, while guaranteeing security in Europe.
Contents of the Stockholm Programme
The Programme states that the EU should accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as soon as possible.
The rights of the child must be taken into account and emphasised in the continued work, especially children in particularly vulnerable situations (such as sexual exploitation of children, victims of human trafficking and unaccompanied minors).
Both the rights of those suspected of criminal offences and the standing of victims of crime should be strengthened.
To guarantee the protection of privacy, the Commission will be tasked with evaluating current data protection regulations to see where they need to be strengthened.
Law enforcement will be strengthened through an internal security strategy, a strategy against organised crime, an information management strategy, and through better use of the instruments and cooperation opportunities already available, such as Europol and Eurojust.
The Programme highlights the importance of a coherent approach to combating human trafficking that requires coordination on all fronts.
Better cooperation presupposes mutual confidence in one other's legal systems. A range of measures are proposed in this area including training, job exchanges, stronger networks and evaluations of one another's legal systems.
The Programme states that the EU should promote the development of a dynamic and sustainable migration policy, and that well managed migration can be positive for all concerned.
The importance of a flexible migration policy to meet future labour needs in the EU is emphasised. Cooperation with countries of origin and transit will be further strengthened by accelerating and deepening the implementation of the Global Approach to Migration. The positive development effects of migration for countries of origin will be promoted. Migration issues will be integrated more clearly in more EU policy areas, not least in the common foreign policy.
The direction of the asylum policy remains unchanged, with the goal of establishing a common asylum system by 2012. The EU will intensify its work with resettlement in close cooperation with the UNHCR.
The Programme will create conditions that will build greater solidarity with the Member States and the third countries that are most exposed to migratory pressure by means of a comprehensive approach that is sustainable in both the short and the long term.
It emphasises that the EU must have a common policy for external relations. A separate chapter addresses this dimension in the area of freedom, security and justice.
