The Hague Programme was approved by the European Council in November 2004. As the multi-annual programme it follows the Conclusions from Tampere 1999 and establishes general and political goals in the area of Justice and Home Affairs for the period of 2005-2009.
 
The objective of the Hague Programme implemented by its Action Plan is to improve the common capability of the European Union and its Member States to guarantee fundamental rights, minimum procedural protection and access to justice, to provide protection in accordance with the Geneva Convention on Refugees and other international treaties to persons in need, to manage migration flows and to control the external borders of the Union, to fight against the international organized crime and to repress the threat of terrorism, to fully use the potential of Europol and Eurojust, to promote further the mutual recognition of judicial decisions and certificates both in civil and in criminal matters, and to eliminate legal and judicial obstacles in litigation in civil and family matters with cross-border implication.