CIAO DATE: 07/02

Reshaping Europe's Borders: Challenges for EU Internal and External Policy

Joanna Apap

6-7 July 2001
Brussels

Centre for European Policy Studies

Introduction

This colloquium brought together a distinguished list of political actors, policy makers, advisers, experts and researchers from all parts of Europe (see annex I for the list of papers presented and speakers). It was concerned with security in a broad sense, with special attention given to borders and to JHA (Justice and Home Affairs) issues.

Mr Giuliano Amato, former Prime Minister of Italy opened the conference with a speech on the long-term implications of EU enlargement. Commissioner Antonio Vitorino, Timo Summa (Director Foreign Relations, EU Commission) and Antoine Duquesne, Belgian Minister of the Interior addressed, with a wealth of current experience and examples, the difficult balance between security and freedom.

The eastern frontier after enlargement is at the centre of EU security concerns and particular attention was paid during the discussions to the perspectives of candidate and non-candidate countries of the region. Recent data was presented on the will and the capacity of Russia and the Ukraine to co-operate with the EU. Political conflicts and discontents, migration and criminal problems, and a sense of exclusion and frustration associated with the difficult transformation of former communist countries could be exacerbated without careful development of relations with all the countries of the region.

The speakers at the colloquium emphasised the necessity of a well thought out policy and system of management for the eastern frontier of an enlarged EU. A second concern of the colloquium was the central importance of trust in the promotion of security in an enlarged EU. Within this broad framework, the colloquium considered the following themes:

1. The Changing Policy Agenda
2. Justice and Home Affairs and External Relations
3. The Changing Context of JHA Policy
4. The Impact of Policy and the Need for a More Friendly Schengen Border Policy
5. Policy Implementation
6. Policy Analysis
7. Sources of Mistrust

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