Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, Responsible for Home Affairs
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Independent TFTP overseer appointed
27/08/2010
This summer, the EU and the United States signed an agreement on tracking of terrorism financing, the so called TFTP agreement (Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme). The text stated that the European Commission would appoint an independent European person with the mission of monitoring the data searches that are being carried out within the agreement framework. An interim overseer has now been appointed.
“I am very pleased to announce that the European Commission has now appointed an interim independent overseer of Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme searches. This person is responsible on an interim basis for the oversight and monitoring of financial payment messaging, which is necessary for the purpose of prevention, investigation, detection, or prosecution of terrorism or terrorist financing,” said Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner in charge of Home Affairs.
The overseer is placed in Washington, and has started working. The interim solution will shortly be replaced by a person holding a permanent post, in accordance with Article 12 of the agreement.
Read the statement in full and read more on the TFTP agreement.
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One step closer towards visa-free travel to Brazil
06/08/2010
The European Commission adopted today draft decisions on short-stay visa waiver agreements between the EU and Brazil. Thereby, all European citizens would be able to travel to Brazil visa-free.
"Once these agreements enter into force, they will have real positive impact on the everyday life of our citizens, especially of the citizens of Estonia, Latvia, Malta and Cyprus which for the time being still need a visa to travel to Brazil", said EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström.
The draft decisions have to be approved by the Council before they can enter into force. Read more in the press release.
Malmström concerned about new fee for travels to the US
06/08/2010
"I understand that today's decision is taken in accordance with the Travel Promotion Act's obligations. Nevertheless, I regret very much the fee established by the interim rule. I have repeatedly raised concerns about the introduction of this fee and I remain convinced that these new requirements applicable only to travelers under the Visa Waiver Program, are inconsistent with the commitment of the U.S. to facilitate transatlantic mobility and will be an additional onus for European citizens travelling to the U.S.", said Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs.
Mrs Malmström made the statement following an announcement from the U.S. Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection who today published the interim rule on an administrative fee of 14 US dollars for travelers to the United States. The new fee will become effective on 8 September 2010.
Read Cecilia Malmström's statement in full.
EURODAC annual report issued
03/08/2010
The 2009 annual report on the activities of EU wide database EURODAC was published today by the European Commission. Among other things, the report shows that the number of registered asylum applications rose by eight percent in 2009 compared to the year before.
EURODAC is a European database for storage of so called biometric data. The purpose is to facilitate the implementation of the Dublin regulation, which is the regulatory framework that decides the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application.
"EURODAC is an essential part of the EU's Common European Asylum System. The report published today shows the effective contribution of this EU-wide fingerprint database in managing asylum applications, by helping to establish which Member State should examine each of them through the storage and comparison of the fingerprints of asylum seekers and illegal entrants and preventing the submission of multiple asylum requests", " stated Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner responsible for Home Affairs.
Read more in the press release or read the report in full.
EU review of information sharing systems
20/07/2010
The European Commission has carried out a stocktaking of existing EU instruments used for storage and exchange of personal data. The overview was put forward today by Commissioner Cecilia Malmström during a press conference in Brussels.
"EU citizens have the right to know what personal data are kept about them. This provides a good overview of the different instruments we have in Europe. At the same time, it is an opportunity to establish a set of principles for how our policy should develop in this area", said Cecilia Malmström.
To present this overview was one of the first decisions Cecilia Malmström made as newly appointed EU Commissioner for Home Affairs earlier this spring. This has also been called for by the European Parliament. The overview covers several areas, such as the data needed within the Schengen cooperation, visa issues, the EU asylum and migration policy and the fight against organised crime and terrorism.
"I will now review each one of these instruments, by their own as well as in relation to the bigger picture, and evaluate them against the principles we have set out. Among other things, I want to ensure that all of these instruments are proportionate, that they respect the fundamental rights, and I also want to investigate the possibilities to introduce so called sunset clauses, which means that legislation automatically ends after a certain number of years", said Cecilia Malmström.
Today, Cecilia Malmström also presented a stocktaking of the EU's work to fight terrorism in order to outline the instruments already in place, what has been achieved, and in which areas further action is needed.
Read more on the two reviews via the links below.
Zuletzt aktualisiert: 30/8/2010