Closed-Door Talks
October 25, 2006
Britain's Home Secretary John Reid is hosting his G6 counterparts from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland in Stratford-upon-Avon for two days of closed-door meetings.
"The G6 is not a formal decision-taking body -- instead the aim is to boost activity and cooperation, which can then be taken forward at full EU level," the British Home Office said in a statement released with the agenda on Tuesday.
It plans to discuss terrorism on Wednesday, including the current threat and how to pre-empt fresh attacks that have hit members Britain and Spain since the informal group -- initially called G5 --was established in 2003. It has become the G6 since Poland joined in the wake of its accession to the EU.
The ministers are also set to debate ways to challenge "extremist ideas and ideals, including through dialogue with Muslim communities" in EU countries, according to the agenda from Britain's Home Office.
Tackling immigration and organized crime
On Thursday, the G6 are expected to discuss how to shut off illegal immigration routes and how to work with unspecified third countries to control migration flows. They will also debate how to reduce the harm caused by organized crime, including value added tax (VAT) fraud and trafficking of drugs and people.
European analyst Hugo Brady said VAT fraud costs Britain billions of pounds (dollars) a year alone.
In its statement, the Home Office said the G6 ministers aim to "share ideas and best practice" in the areas of terrorism, immigration and crime rather than take concrete decisions.
Are they or aren't they?
The G6 insist the meetings are transparent. The ministers are to hold a press conference and the Home Office website plans to publish the results of the talks.
Sarah Ludford, a member of the European parliament and spokesperson on European justice for Britain's Liberal Democrat opposition party, fears however that a "cabal" of officials within the European Union may be short-circuiting what she says is an already limited democratic process in forging EU security policy.
"De facto, I think they are making decisions," Ludford said. "It's a short-hand way of arriving eventually at EU legislation."
A committee of the House of Lords, the unelected upper chamber of the British parliament, called for less secrecy after the last G6 meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, six months ago.
A beneficial format
Hugo Brady, a research fellow with the British-based Center for European Reform, said the G6 format was beneficial because it was otherwise difficult to generate EU consensus.
He said he was "not outraged" by the secrecy of the meetings.
"Governments have been cooperating in Europe on internal security since 1923 when Interpol was founded and it's always been secret," Brady said.
Brady expected the ministers to discuss expanding the small group of EU members that signed the Treaty of Prum in 2005, which provided for sharing fingerprints, DNA and bolstering police cooperation.
"I know that Great Britain has the intention of joining and is kicking itself it wasn't in the negotiations to start with," he said.