Conference on the Stockholm Programme attracts major political attention and over 250 experts

On 4 and 5 March over 250 experts from the EU institutions, national ministries, think-tanks and NGOs came to Bruges for a conference on the Stockholm Programme organised by the Department of Political and Administrative Studies with funding from the European Commission and the Swedish Ministry of Justice. The Stockholm Programme – to be adopted under the Swedish Presidency of the second half of 2009 – will set the strategic objectives for the further development of the Union’s “area of freedom, security and justice” from 2010 to 2014. The conference provided a forum for an intense exchange of ideas and debate between policy-makers and experts from a variety of backgrounds on what should be the core elements of the new Programme in the fields of asylum and immigration policy, external border controls, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters and police cooperation. The conference was introduced by key-note speeches from the current President of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, Czech Minister of the Interior Ivan LANGER, the Swedish Minister of Justice Beatrice ASK, Commission Vice-President Jacques BARROT, Luxembourg Minister of Justice (and Doyen of the Council) Luc FRIEDEN and Prefect and Chef the Cabinet Christian DE CHARRIERE as personal representative of French Minister of Immigration Eric BESSON. Five working-groups provided an opportunity for senior officials and leading academic experts to discuss priorities for the Stockholm Programme in detail. Important contributions were also made by the Director of the EU’s border management agency Frontex, General Ilka LAITINEN, and the Union’s Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles DE KERCHOVE. A major emphasis was put on enhancing the added value for European citizens and on the expansion of the international action of the Union in this policy-making field.

A summary of the proceedings based on reports from the working groups will be published in the Working Paper Series of the Department of Political and Administrative Studies.