The mission of creating an European Area of Justice, Security and Freedom has always been a priority for the European Union. The desire to step up the fight against organized crime, police cooperation and the harmonization of policies on asylum and immigration demonstrates the strong interest that the Union has had in these sectors.

The Tampere program, the Hague and finally the Stockholm program marked the consolidation  of this important area of interest of the European Union.

By the end of this year the new program on Justice for 2014/2020 should be approved, based on the objectives for Europe 2020.

The Justice program could improve the implementation and the effectiveness of EU legislation in the fields of judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters and the efficiency of policies to contrast drug trafficking and other drug-related offenses. Its aim is to secure access to justice in Europe for both citizens and companies in cross-border disputes.

The main actions of the program are concentrated in well defined areas of action:

-. to expand knowledge and public awareness of the law and policies of the European Union;

-. to support the implementation of EU law and policies in all Member States;

-. to provide an exchange of views and « know how » between Members States and Istitutions on the potential issues affecting the operations of the Area of Security, Justice and Freedom.

The program will also support the following activities:

-. analytical activities, such as collection of data and statistics, development of common methodologies and, where appropriate, benchmarks and indicators, studies, research, analysis and surveys evaluations and impact assessments, preparation and publication of guides, reports and training materials; monitoring and evaluating the implementation of European legislation and the implementation of European policies; workshops, seminars, expert meetings, conferences;

-. educational activities such as the exchange of staff, workshops, seminars, training of trainees, events, development of on-line training modules;

-.mutual learning, cooperation, awareness raising and activities such as identification and exchange of best practices, experiences and innovative approaches, organization of benchmarking for mutual learning, organization of seminars, conferences, information campaigns and events, including corporate communication the political priorities of the European Union, compilation and publication of materials to share information and results of the program, development, operation and maintenance of systems and tools that use information technology and communication support to key players such as support to the Member States in the implementation of the policy and European law; support to key European networks whose activities are related to the implementation of the objectives of the program, networking between organizations and specialized agencies, including local, regional and national and European financing of networks of experts and observers at the European level.

The public-private partnerships that will benefit from these programs must be legally established in the European Union, countries before their accession, all countries’ EFTA and finally Denmark on the basis of an international agreement.

Public and private agencies legally established in a third country to which applies the neighborhood policy may be associated with the actions of the program if they contribute to achieve the objectives of the program.

In addition, the Commission may cooperate with international organizations active in the areas covered by the program such as the Council of the Europe and the United Nations.

Finally, to conclude this overview the budget of this program will be € 416 million.

With regard to the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the “Justice Program” for the period 2014/2020 the draft report has as rapporteurs Luigi Berlinguer and Philip Claeys.

One should note how the attention of the rapporteurs has been focalized on some key points of fundamental importance.

Listed below are some of the most interesting and innovative amendments on the draft report:

-. Amendment 10 (proposed regulation, art.4)

The general objective of the program is to contribute to the further development of a European area of justice;

-. Amendment 11 (proposed regulation, art. 5)

Facilitate and support the judicial cooperation in civil and in criminal matters, including cooperation with Eurojust in the fight against transnational organized crime and other serious crime;

-. Amendment 24(c bis) (proposed regulation, art 6)

Promote and support language training, including training on the legal terminology in a foreign language, in order to ensure effective judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters;

-. Amendment 41 (proposed regulation, art 13)

Recognition of funding: any institutions, association, network or activities receiving funding under the program must acknowledge the financial support received from the Union. To this end , the Commission defines detailed guidelines on visibility.

In the final draft of the program, the rapporteurs welcomed the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Justice Program for the period 2014/2020.

This program needs to focus on activities that can contribute to the further develop an European area of justice and promoting legal education in order to facilitate a legal culture in both civil and criminal cases, this must be a priority in the next programs of the Union.

The LIBE Commission, chaired by Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, Chairman of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs met to address issues concerning justice on the 19th-20th of September in the presence of Viviane Reding, Vice-President and European Commissioner for Justice.

In these two days MEPs have addressed their main issues and doubts regarding justice in the European Union.

The first point on which the Commission has focused on is the possibility of creating an European Judicial area as soon as possible: it will be crucial in the coming years to simplify the rules which jurists from time to time have to analyze while also creating a common European Judicial culture. For example, a Hungarian parliamentary recalled the case of children tragically killed by an Irish banker in Hungarian soil in a car accident; the perpetrator has remained largely unpunished in his country. This indicates that there are still many steps to take to reach a certain equity in Europe relative to the sector judicial.

This aspect is even more important when dealing with the issue of protection of the citizen especially for some group such as the elderly and the disabled in fact, there is need to give more attention to the “Daphne III” program. After the effective work done by his predecessors  (Daphne I, II), who implemented an effective awareness campaign to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women and children. As a consequence, instead of worrying about the sentence imposed to those who have committed a crime, an area in which the European Union has been working for some time with excellent results, it is time to support and protect those who have suffered a particular crime or violence.

Another issue that has attracted intense attention  has been the problem of drugs. In this context, the Green Party has explicitly stated that they must necessarily distinguish between offenses related to the use of hard drugs than those for use soft drugs suggesting to leave unpunished the use of soft drugs.

More than ever at the center of debates: the issue of corruption.

The European Union has made huge strides in the fight against corruption even if the situation and data of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Romania are still worrying. Even more difficult is the Italian situation because in a recent ranking of countries more susceptible to the phenomenon of corruption , Italy appears to third from bottom, surpassed only by Romania and Greece.

The debate has also clarified what could be the solutions to this problem: the use of transparency, using standards of merit and human resources based on trust seem to be best way to eradicate corruption.

Another important point that has been discussed is the management of migration flows and the integrated management of immigration. In this area there are many different and conflicting opinions. In Belgium, for example, the rights immigrants can enjoy are significantly higher than in others European countries and should render common management of rights of immigrants and agree on a coherent and effective management of their flows. Unfortunately, too many Roma Children do not attend school and it is urgent to create a program that allows them to easily integrate within their host country.

Finally, the European Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding has emphasized the need to protect the financial interests of the Union: “Protecting the financial interests of the Union must be a priority and we need to adopt a directive that shall effectively punish who’s guilty of fraud against the Communitary budget” she stressed, adding that to use European funds for objectives and interests that aren’t pursued by UE must be prosecuted because it’s a fraud not only for the institutions but also for the 500 million European citizens.

Dario Moretti

Università degli Studi di Napoli  “L’Orientale”

The mission of creating an European Area of Justice, Security and Freedom has always been a priority for the European Union. The desire to step up the fight against organized crime, police cooperation and the harmonization of policies on asylum and immigration demonstrates the strong interest that the Union has had in these sectors.

The Tampere program, the Hague and finally the Stockholm program marked the consolidation  of this important area of interest of the European Union.

By the end of this year the new program on Justice for 2014/2020 should be approved, based on the objectives for Europe 2020.

The Justice program could improve the implementation and the effectiveness of EU legislation in the fields of judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters and the efficiency of policies to contrast drug trafficking and other drug-related offenses. Its aim is to secure access to justice in Europe for both citizens and companies in cross-border disputes.

The main actions of the program are concentrated in well defined areas of action:

-. to expand knowledge and public awareness of the law and policies of the European Union;

-. to support the implementation of EU law and policies in all Member States;

-. to provide an exchange of views and « know how » between Members States and Istitutions on the potential issues affecting the operations of the Area of Security, Justice and Freedom.

The program will also support the following activities:

-. analytical activities, such as collection of data and statistics, development of common methodologies and, where appropriate, benchmarks and indicators, studies, research, analysis and surveys evaluations and impact assessments, preparation and publication of guides, reports and training materials; monitoring and evaluating the implementation of European legislation and the implementation of European policies; workshops, seminars, expert meetings, conferences;

-. educational activities such as the exchange of staff, workshops, seminars, training of trainees, events, development of on-line training modules;

-.mutual learning, cooperation, awareness raising and activities such as identification and exchange of best practices, experiences and innovative approaches, organization of benchmarking for mutual learning, organization of seminars, conferences, information campaigns and events, including corporate communication the political priorities of the European Union, compilation and publication of materials to share information and results of the program, development, operation and maintenance of systems and tools that use information technology and communication support to key players such as support to the Member States in the implementation of the policy and European law; support to key European networks whose activities are related to the implementation of the objectives of the program, networking between organizations and specialized agencies, including local, regional and national and European financing of networks of experts and observers at the European level.

The public-private partnerships that will benefit from these programs must be legally established in the European Union, countries before their accession, all countries’ EFTA and finally Denmark on the basis of an international agreement.

Public and private agencies legally established in a third country to which applies the neighborhood policy may be associated with the actions of the program if they contribute to achieve the objectives of the program.

In addition, the Commission may cooperate with international organizations active in the areas covered by the program such as the Council of the Europe and the United Nations.

Finally, to conclude this overview the budget of this program will be € 416 million.

With regard to the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the “Justice Program” for the period 2014/2020 the draft report has as rapporteurs Luigi Berlinguer and Philip Claeys.

One should note how the attention of the rapporteurs has been focalized on some key points of fundamental importance.

Listed below are some of the most interesting and innovative amendments on the draft report:

-. Amendment 10 (proposed regulation, art.4)

The general objective of the program is to contribute to the further development of a European area of justice;

-. Amendment 11 (proposed regulation, art. 5)

Facilitate and support the judicial cooperation in civil and in criminal matters, including cooperation with Eurojust in the fight against transnational organized crime and other serious crime;

-. Amendment 24(c bis) (proposed regulation, art 6)

Promote and support language training, including training on the legal terminology in a foreign language, in order to ensure effective judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters;

-. Amendment 41 (proposed regulation, art 13)

Recognition of funding: any institutions, association, network or activities receiving funding under the program must acknowledge the financial support received from the Union. To this end , the Commission defines detailed guidelines on visibility.

In the final draft of the program, the rapporteurs welcomed the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Justice Program for the period 2014/2020.

This program needs to focus on activities that can contribute to the further develop an European area of justice and promoting legal education in order to facilitate a legal culture in both civil and criminal cases, this must be a priority in the next programs of the Union.

The LIBE Commission, chaired by Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, Chairman of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs met to address issues concerning justice on the 19th-20th of September in the presence of Viviane Reding, Vice-President and European Commissioner for Justice.

In these two days MEPs have addressed their main issues and doubts regarding justice in the European Union.

The first point on which the Commission has focused on is the possibility of creating an European Judicial area as soon as possible: it will be crucial in the coming years to simplify the rules which jurists from time to time have to analyze while also creating a common European Judicial culture. For example, a Hungarian parliamentary recalled the case of children tragically killed by an Irish banker in Hungarian soil in a car accident; the perpetrator has remained largely unpunished in his country. This indicates that there are still many steps to take to reach a certain equity in Europe relative to the sector judicial.

This aspect is even more important when dealing with the issue of protection of the citizen especially for some group such as the elderly and the disabled in fact, there is need to give more attention to the “Daphne III” program. After the effective work done by his predecessors  (Daphne I, II), who implemented an effective awareness campaign to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women and children. As a consequence, instead of worrying about the sentence imposed to those who have committed a crime, an area in which the European Union has been working for some time with excellent results, it is time to support and protect those who have suffered a particular crime or violence.

Another issue that has attracted intense attention  has been the problem of drugs. In this context, the Green Party has explicitly stated that they must necessarily distinguish between offenses related to the use of hard drugs than those for use soft drugs suggesting to leave unpunished the use of soft drugs.

More than ever at the center of debates: the issue of corruption.

The European Union has made huge strides in the fight against corruption even if the situation and data of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Romania are still worrying. Even more difficult is the Italian situation because in a recent ranking of countries more susceptible to the phenomenon of corruption , Italy appears to third from bottom, surpassed only by Romania and Greece.

The debate has also clarified what could be the solutions to this problem: the use of transparency, using standards of merit and human resources based on trust seem to be best way to eradicate corruption.

Another important point that has been discussed is the management of migration flows and the integrated management of immigration. In this area there are many different and conflicting opinions. In Belgium, for example, the rights immigrants can enjoy are significantly higher than in others European countries and should render common management of rights of immigrants and agree on a coherent and effective management of their flows. Unfortunately, too many Roma Children do not attend school and it is urgent to create a program that allows them to easily integrate within their host country.

Finally, the European Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding has emphasized the need to protect the financial interests of the Union: “Protecting the financial interests of the Union must be a priority and we need to adopt a directive that shall effectively punish who’s guilty of fraud against the Communitary budget” she stressed, adding that to use European funds for objectives and interests that aren’t pursued by UE must be prosecuted because it’s a fraud not only for the institutions but also for the 500 million European citizens.

Dario Moretti

Università degli Studi di Napoli  “L’Orientale”