US embassy cable - 05BRUSSELS337

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BRUSSELS 000337 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INL/PC, CA/VO/BIP AND EUR/ERA; HOMELAND 
SECURITY FOR ELAINE DEZENSKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CPAS, CVIS, KCRM, KJUS, PREL, SNAR, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: INFORMAL U.S.-EU MEETING ON JUSTICE AND HOME 
AFFAIRS WITH LUXEMBOURG PRESIDENCY JANUARY 13-14 
 
 1.  Summary.  At the Informal Meeting on Justice and Home 
Affairs (JHA) held February 13-14 in Luxembourg, the U.S. and 
EU reviewed outstanding issues and areas for further law 
enforcement, border security and counter terrorism 
cooperation during the coming six months.  The U.S. presented 
to Europol a formal proposal for joint analysis of frozen 
terrorist bank accounts.  Eurojust promised to explore the 
issue of the use of classified intelligence in criminal 
prosecutions with a view to harmonizing practice among the 25 
EU Member States.  Eurojust will consider U.S. participation 
in a conference on counterfeiting to be held April 6 in The 
Hague.  The EU requested a second extension of the deadline 
for biometrics in travel documents now set for October 26. 
The U.S. asked the EU to consider periodic meetings on 
emerging crime issues of concern to both sides and possible 
solutions.  The U.S. said it would like to cooperate more 
closely with the EU on operational and technical assistance 
to combat organized crime and offered a position to the EU in 
DOJ's Organized Crime Unit.  Both the Presidency and the 
Commission were receptive to enhancing our cooperation in 
combating organized crime in the Balkans.  We invited the EU 
to make a presentation during a JHA training seminar for 
resident legal advisors in the Balkans region to be held this 
spring in Bucharest.  The U.S. noted that intellectual 
property theft is increasing and described the STOP 
initiative (Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy).  The U.S. 
proposed a gathering of interested Member States to cooperate 
on specific targets, perhaps through Eurojust.  The U.S. said 
it had serious concerns about the proposed UN Cybercrime 
Convention to be discussed at the April Crime Congress in 
Bangkok and asked whether the EU was interested in 
cooperating on this issue.  The EU promised to raise this 
issue at the February 7 meeting of the Article 36 Committee. 
End summary. 
 
2.  Delegations: The U.S. delegation was led by Deputy 
Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz and included DHS DAS 
Elaine Dezenski, CA/VO/BIP Director Paul Fitzgerald, INL/PC 
Deputy Director John Bargeron, EUR/ERA Kimber Shearer, USEU 
Senior Counsel Mark Richard, USEU/NAS Frank Kerber, USEU/PRM 
Marc Meznar, USEU/ECON Jennifer Underwood, Embassy Brussels 
Legatt Fred Wong, Embassy London ECON Jean Bonilla, and 
Embassy Luxembourg DCM Daniel Piccuta and JHA Officer Jim 
Connell.  The EU delegation was led by Luxembourg Article 36 
Chair Roland Genson and included Council Secretariat JHA 
Director Gilles de Kerchove, Luxembourg Chair of the 
Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum 
Sylvain Wagner, UK Home Office Director Peter Storr, DG JHA 
Tung-Lai Margue, JHA Counselor at the EU Representation in 
Washington Telmo Baltazar, Europol Deputy Director Jens 
Hojbjerg, and Eurojust President Michael Kennedy. 
 
3.  The EU opened the meeting by noting that the November 
2004 European Council adopted the "Hague Program" for Justice 
and Home Affairs.  (Note that JHA has been renamed JLS for 
the French acronym for Justice, Freedom and Security.)   The 
Hague Program covers the period 2005-2009 and follows on the 
Tampere Program.  Its overall objective is to reinforce the 
JHA capacity of the EU as a whole as well as that of the 
individual Member States.  The Program emphasizes practical 
cooperation among law enforcement agencies throughout the 
Union.  Counter terrorism is a Program priority.  A permanent 
committee on security is to be established once the new EU 
Constitution is adopted.  The Program cites provisions for 
data protection and calls for the creation of an index of 
convicted persons within the EU.  Swartz noted the importance 
of information sharing and related issues of data protection. 
 He suggested that the U.S. might work with Eurojust on the 
issue of the use of classified intelligence in criminal 
prosecutions.  Swartz noted that the U.S. is assigning a 
Secret Service agent to Europol to work on counterfeiting as 
 
SIPDIS 
well as an Assistant Legal Advisor to work on terrorism. 
 
4.  In the area of external relations, Genson said that 
cooperative relations with the U.S. are of the highest 
priority.   He also noted the importance of Russia and 
Ukraine, and noted that since the fight against organized 
crime in third countries is a priority for both the U.S. and 
the EU, we should consider coordinating on joint efforts.  He 
stressed the importance of working with the U.S. on counter 
terrorism.  He urged quick agreement on the date for the next 
meeting of the Policy Dialogue on Border and Transport 
Security to be held in Brussels this spring.  Genson noted 
the February 1-2 visit to Washington of Luxembourg Justice 
Minister Frieden and Commission Vice President Frattini as a 
useful opportunity to discuss U.S.-EU cooperation and 
welcomed the upcoming visit of President Bush in February. 
Swartz responded that the U.S. wished to fully engage with 
the EU and considered this its most important relationship in 
this area. We would like to discuss further with the EU their 
cooperation with Russia and Ukraine to ensure our efforts are 
fully integrated, particularly regarding anti-corruption and 
strengthening rule of law in those countries.  Mark Richard 
asked the EU to consider periodic meetings on emerging crime 
issues of concern to both sides and possible solutions. 
Such an exchange of views would be beneficial when developing 
long-term programs and action plans such as the Hague 
Program. 
 
Counter terrorism 
------------------ 
 
5.  Genson said the EU's counter terrorism priorities 
included implementing the European Mutual Legal Assistance 
decision, terrorist finance, and strengthening civilian 
protection assistance to respond to terrorist attacks.  The 
June U.S.-EU Counter terrorism Summit Declaration outlined a 
number of areas for joint cooperation.  The EU is also 
concerned about radicalization and recruitment among the 
Muslim populations in Europe.  Commission rep Margue said 
there is interest in consulting on DNA data sharing, 
improving the flow of law enforcement information and 
strengthening cooperation between police and security 
agencies.  The U.S. presented to Europol a formal proposal on 
the joint analysis of frozen terrorist accounts.  Europol 
agreed to respond to the proposal soonest.  Both sides agreed 
on the value of the terrorist finance practitioners workshop 
held in November consisting of criminal investigators and 
prosecutors and that this should be the beginning of a series 
of such workshops.  Carlos Zeyen from the Luxembourg 
Prosecutor's Office noted that the Presidency had agreed to 
host a two-day workshop on designation procedures.  There was 
some confusion over the agenda for the next conference of 
practitioners, but the U.S. suggested that Luxembourg 
consider having designators and practitioners meet separately 
on the first day, and together on the second day. 
 
6.  On the issue of the use of classified information in 
criminal prosecutions, Genson reported that the EU had 
distributed the G8 questionnaire on this subject to the 
Member States.  There had been no formal responses to the 
questionnaire to date.  This is essentially a national law 
issue where the EU has only a small role.  The primary 
difficulty was not disclosure, but the acceptance of such 
data as "evidence" by the court.  Swartz responded that this 
is a sensitive and important topic  The U.S. also is 
grappling with it.  The principles of the European Court of 
Justice also govern the U.S. process.  Richard said that if 
we do not address this issue, our cooperation in fighting 
terrorism will be hindered.  If we must deal with this 
bilaterally, we will have 25 different systems and urged the 
EU as a whole to work on a solution.  Genson asked whether 
Eurojust might be willing to take this on.  Eurojust 
President Kennedy reluctantly promised to explore the issue, 
citing the agency's already full program.  Swartz offered to 
provide the U.S. Classified Information Procedures Act to 
assist this effort.  UK rep Storr noted there is a wide 
variety of practice among EU Member States regarding sharing 
intelligence and that it is unlikely the EU will be able to 
develop a common practice; at a minimum they can identify 
barriers and issues among the Member States.  DOJ committed 
to provide a non-paper on the issues/barriers to using 
classified information in criminal proceedings as the basis 
for a future dialogue on the issue. 
 
7.  On border security, the Commission noted that SIS II 
(Schengen Information System) is scheduled to be operational 
in 2007 and will be able to exchange data with Interpol's 
lookout systems.  CA/VO/BIP Office Director Paul Fitzgerald 
used this opportunity to press our proposal to share 
expertise and experiences as the EU builds their common Visa 
Information System such that we have the greatest 
interoperability possible on lookout sharing information. He 
noted the recent letter from the U.S. to the EU extending the 
USG offer to seek an appropriate, single EU point-of-contact 
to convene a legal and technical working group, as discussed 
at the November PDBTS. 
 
8.  On the Lost and Stolen Passports Initiative, Fitzgerald 
reported that as of November, the U.S. had entered over 
464,000 records into the Interpol database but that there 
have been no confirmed hits to date.  Richard asked how often 
EU Member States queried the database and the EU was unable 
to provide or indicate the number of hits; however, the 
Commission committed to provide the U.S. with information on 
Member State use and sharing of legacy and new Lost and 
Stolen Passport data.  The Commission said that it will 
publish a report by the end of the year detailing Member 
State compliance with the new obligation to transfer all 
legacy and new data on lost and stolen passports to Interpol. 
 The report may also examine Member State usage of the 
Interpol database in identifying and confirming passport 
fraud. 
 
9.  On terrorist recruitment, Genson noted there had been a 
seminar held in November and the Council had called for a 
long-term strategy and action plan by June 2005.  The UK rep 
stated that the UK would take this work further under its 
Presidency.  Swartz promised to ask the intelligence 
community to produce a paper on the subject to be shared with 
the EU.  Genson said an internal EU meeting on this will be 
held February 7.  DHS mentioned that Secretary Ridge earlier 
that week announced DHS would provide USD 12 million to fund 
an American University study on causes of terrorism. 
 
10.  On data retention, Genson said that several members had 
submitted proposals to retain data for a longer period of 
time.  The EU was aiming to adopt some standard by June, but 
there were multiple aspects to the problem, including cost 
and figuring out exactly what law enforcement needed.  The EU 
wished to avoid excessive retention periods.  Swartz 
responded that the U.S. was going in a different direction. 
While we did not mandate retention, the law ensured that all 
records that did exist were frozen and available to law 
enforcement.  Richard asked if the Council has recommended 
that Member States join the Council of Europe Cybercrime 
Convention.  Genson replied no.  Swartz said that the U.S. 
regarded the COE Convention to be excellent but had serious 
concerns about the proposed UN Cybercrime Convention to be 
discussed at the April Crime Congress in Bangkok.  The U.S. 
finds the UN proposal to be duplicative.   Did the EU wish to 
work with us on opposing this effort?  Genson said he would 
raise this at the February 7 meeting of the Article 36 
Committee.  Swartz offered to produce a non-paper on this 
issue and said the U.S. was willing to meet with the 
Committee if that would be helpful. 
 
Law Enforcement Cooperation 
--------------------------- 
 
11.  On the bilateral protocols to the U.S.-EU Extradition 
and Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements,  Genson noted that 
protocols with 7 of the 15 had been signed, that 4 more were 
near completion, and 4 others had outstanding issues 
(Austria, Ireland, Germany and Portugal).  Luxembourg hoped 
to sign its bilateral protocols during Minister Frieden's 
upcoming visit to Washington.  Richard said the U.S. would 
like to conclude negotiations with all 25 members during this 
Presidency, if possible.  As soon as the 15 have been 
completed we will begin negotiations with the ten new 
accession states.  The EU said they were pressuring and would 
continue to urge the four remaining members to complete 
negotiations and to facilitate the negotiations with the 
accession states.  Model texts have been distributed to the 
new Member States and we are waiting for their statement of 
preferences on the protocol approach before developing 
specific draft protocols for each of the ten. 
 
12.  Europol Deputy Director Jens Hojbjerg noted that there 
is to be a joint evaluation of U.S.-Europol cooperation in 
the first quarter of CY 2005.  Workload at the Europol 
liaison office in Washington tripled last year over 2003. 
Cooperation with all U.S. law enforcement agencies have 
improved with the exception of DEA.  Europol has been 
mandated to produce an annual organized crime assessment. 
U.S. cooperation could prove important in this effort. 
Richard noted that DEA is moving its international program 
management overseas and has proposed putting an assistant 
regional director in Brussels at the USEU Mission.  Embassy 
Brussels Legatt Fred Wong reported that the FBI opened a 
suboffice in The Hague on December 5 to handle both bilateral 
and Europol business with an emphasis on terrorism.  He 
promised to provide the EU with FBI criminal intelligence 
assessments.  Richard noted that the assignment of an FBI 
agent to Europol was predicated on the revitalization of its 
counter terrorism task force.  The exact functions of this 
agent depend on how this unit develops. 
 
13.  Eurojust President Michael Kennedy acknowledged that 
cooperation with the U.S. to date had been minimal.  A 
workshop scheduled for February 7 with U.S. practitioners 
will examine a major terrorism case of relevance on both 
sides of the Atlantic and discuss lessons learned.  Most of 
Eurojust's work dealt with counterfeiting and drugs, while 
terrorism accounted for only ten percent of its focus. 
Terrorism should not be the sole focus of U.S.-Eurojust 
cooperation.  There will be a meeting on April 6 on 
counterfeiting which will include not only counterfeiting of 
the Euro but also IP counterfeiting. 
 
14.  Kennedy asked the DOJ to appoint a contact person in 
Washington with a judicial/prosecutorial background.  He said 
a formal agreement with the U.S. was desirable.  Eurojust 
already has such an agreement with Norway.  Swartz responded 
that since cooperation with Eurojust was in the beginning 
stages, we wanted to see the results of this relationship 
before devoting resources to negotiating an agreement. 
Richard noted there were some basic issues to consider when 
negotiating such an agreement such as sharing of information 
with Member States through Eurojust which would introduce new 
data protection procedures for information already being 
shared on a bilateral basis.   For another, the U.S. has 
always worked with central judicial authorized in capitals. 
Will a U.S.-Eurojust agreement bring value added?  Genson 
suggested examining how the Extradition and MLA Agreements 
could influence an agreement with Eurojust. 
 
 
Travel Document Security 
-------------------------- 
 
15.  The EU described its efforts to incorporate biometrics 
into passports.  The Commission rep urged the U.S. to extend 
the October 26 Congressional deadline, because although 
Member States have been very active in trying to meet the 
deadline, they will need more time to implement the new 
technology.  This was the EU's highest priority request.  DHS 
DAS Dezenski recalled that the Administration had asked 
Congress for a two-year extension of the deadline, but 
Congress had opted for one year.  On the issue of the VWP 
review, she noted that this work continues and that DHS 
remains committed to advance notification to the EU, which 
will be coordinated with the Department of State when the 
report is ready for congressional review.  She also noted 
that to the extent the EU can demonstrate progress in 
implementing both biometrics and machine readable passports, 
it will send a positive message to the U.S. Congress that 
parties are fully committed to meeting these objectives as 
quickly as possible and suggested, along with Swartz, that 
this could be raised during Minister Frieden's meetings on 
the Hill during his upcoming visit.  Fitzgerald said the U.S. 
still hoped to have a SCIFA meeting with the EU during the 
Luxembourg Presidency to discuss these issues. 
 
16.  Fitzgerald briefed on U.S. efforts to include biometrics 
in passports, noting that the U.S. expects to begin limited 
production of official passports by late Spring 2005, and 
begin producing tourist passports with embedded biometrics 
this summer.  After Fitzgerald noted that fingerscans in 
travel documents is the key to border security issues, the EU 
urged the U.S. to keep the information on the biometrics 
limited in scope. 
 
17.  Dezenski noted that the Visa Waiver Program Report was 
in its final review stage within DHS before going to Congress 
and promised to provide advance notification of its results 
to the EU as early as possible. 
 
Practical Cooperation 
---------------------- 
 
18.  Genson said the EU had produced several handbooks on 
"special events" security management (such as the 2004 
Olympics) and offered to share these with the U.S.   Richard 
suggested we convene a meeting of experts in this area to 
discuss upcoming events and to coordinate planning. 
 
19.  Genson said the Presidency intended to hold a workshop 
on first responders and technological aspects of public 
security communications.  He asked whether the U.S. would be 
interested in participating.  Swartz replied that this was a 
useful idea and cited U.S. cooperation with Canada on common 
radio frequencies.  Dezenski said DHS would be supportive. 
 
20.  Swartz noted that intellectual property theft is 
increasing and described the STOP initiative (Strategy 
Targeting Organized Piracy) in connection with the criminal 
aspects of IP activities.  In response to an inquiry about 
what the EU and Member States are doing in this area, the 
Commission replied that it is thinking about possible 
legislation.  Swartz promised to share a paper on U.S. recent 
work in this area.  Richard proposed a gathering of 
interested member states to cooperate on specific targets, 
perhaps through Eurojust?  Kennedy said the April 6 
conference on counterfeiting will also include counterfeit 
goods.  Genson asked for copies of relevant U.S. legislation 
on the issue. 
 
21.  Swartz said the U.S. would like to cooperate more 
closely with the EU on operational and technical assistance 
to combat organized crime, including through the SECI Center 
in Bucharest, and offered to receive an EU official in DOJ's 
organized crime unit.  Genson said the EU would carefully 
consider a secondment to DOJ.  The Europol deputy director 
suggested that the Europol liaison officers in Washington 
could add organized crime to their portfolios.  Legatt Wong 
said the FBI would like to participate in joint investigative 
teams with the EU as is done now in Hungary. 
 
22.  The EU detailed their Drugs Strategy for 2005-2012 and 
noted that they want to focus international cooperation on 
the Balkans, Afghanistan and Latin America (Caribbean). 
INL/PC's John Bargeron said the U.S. wants to coordinate more 
on demand reduction and on the growing threat of synthetic 
drugs.  The U.S. recommended continuing the pattern of 
sharing draft resolutions in advance of the March Commission 
on Narcotic Drugs, but noted that presently we have no 
specific resolutions.  USEU/NAS Kerber mentioned that the 
White House Drug Czar will address the European Parliament in 
March.  Peter Storr noted that Afghanistan is the biggest 
source of drug flow to the EU, and gave credit to the U.S. 
for trying to solve the problem there. 
 
23.  Swartz described the U.S. initiative on "grand 
corruption," i.e., how to respond to countries whose corrupt 
leaders steal national assets.  Richard said there is a need 
to provide rapid response teams to assist in gathering facts 
and developing MLA requests.  Stolen national assets are 
frequently secreted in multiple locations abroad.  Are EU 
Member States interested in participating in this effort? 
Genson said he would put the item on the next meeting of the 
Article 36 Committee in February. 
 
24.  Genson noted that the first of a series of "confidence 
building" seminars is now scheduled for April 7-8 to be held 
in Brussels and The Hague and asked for the U.S. response to 
the draft agenda.  Richard agreed to provide a response 
soonest.  In the context of the  confidence building program, 
Richard raised the possibility of conducting a series of 
"town meetings" throughout the Member States at which EU and 
USG officials together would discuss specific JHA issues with 
targeted audiences.  Swartz noted that DOJ is planning to 
hold a training seminar for its regional legal advisors 
posted in the Balkans at the SECI Center in April.  He 
invited the EU to make a presentation on EU action in the 
region.  Meznar said the department is sponsoring a 10-day 
voluntary visitors program in June for ten EU officials on 
U.S. programs for the integration of migrants.  If 
successful, a second program could be held later in the year. 
 The incoming UK Presidency said it expected this issue to be 
one of its highest priorities. 
 
Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue 
----------------------------------- 
 
25.  Both sides agreed to facilitate small focused 
meetings/visits between key U.S. congressmen/women and EU 
parliamentarians to discuss JHA issues.  Ambassador Terpeluk 
offered to assist in this effort.  It was noted that efforts 
are being made by the EU to have Commissioner Frattini and 
Minister Frieden meet with Senators Specter and Lugar when 
they are in D.C. 
 
SCHNABEL 
.