The Stockholm Programme - An open and secure Europe serving and protecting Citizens

The Stockholm Programme is a political, strategic document describing the focus of cooperation in the policy areas rescue services, police and customs cooperation, criminal and civil law cooperation, asylum, migration, visas and external border controls, etc. over five years (2010–2014). The Stockholm Programme is the third programme in this area. The first programme was adopted in 1999 in Tampere. The second programme, the Hague Programme, was adopted in 2004 and expired in December 2009.

 

According to the Stockholm Programme the priorities and future activities in the fields of the European Home Affairs should be focused mainly on the interests and needs of the European Citizens. The ambition is to create a more secure and more open Europe, where the rights of the individual are protected and cooperation focuses on measures that provide added value for individuals. This work programme also attaches great importance to how the EU should work to guarantee respect for fundamental freedoms and privacy, while guaranteeing security in Europe.

 

With the objective to consider opinions and suggestions to this document Germany proposed to create the Informal High Level Advisory Group on the Future of European Home Affairs Policy, known as Future Group, whom the Czech Republic also participated in.The work of the Future Group has been summed up in The Final Report of the Future Group: Freedom, Security, Privacy – European Home Affairs in an open word published in June 2008. Even though this report was not binding the European Commission and the EU Member States in preparing text of the  multi-annual programme, it belongs to important sources of inspiration for debate on the Future of European Home Affairs Policy.

 

On the basis of the Stockholm Programme the European Commision prepared the Communication "Delivering an area of freedom, security and justice for Europe's citizens – Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme" setting up the list of concrete provisions and time schedule. However the EU Member States criticized that some of the actions proposed by the Commission are not in line with the Stockholm Programme and that others, being included in the Stockholm Programme, are not reflected in the Communication of the Commission. Therefore in June 2010 the Council approved the Conclusions urging the Commission to take only those initiatives that are in full conformity with the Stockholm Programme.

 

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