[ARTICLE 69C]

FIGHTING CROSS-BORDER CRIME:

EU WILL BEGIN TO INTERFERE IN CRIME PREVENTION BEYOND

EXISTING CROSS-BORDER MEASURES

[ARTICLE 69C]

AMENDMENT TO: Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and t= he Treaty establishing the European Community (Lisbon, 13 December 2007)<= /span>

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Policy Area:

Treaty= on the Functioning of the European Union, Part Three Policies and Internal Act= ions of the Union, Title IV – Area of Freedom, security and Justice, Chapt= er 4 – Judicial cooperation in criminal matters, Article 69C

Amendment:

Clause= 2, page 1, line 12, after ‘excluding’ insert –

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‘= ;(i) Article 2, paragraph 67, inserted Chapter 4 and Ar= ticles 69A to 69E TEC (TFEU) relating to judicial cooperation in criminal matters;= and

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(ii)’.

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Lisb= on Treaty: =

“JUDICIAL COOPERATION IN CRIMINAL MATTERS

67) Articles 67 to 69 shall be repealed. The following Chapter 4 and Articles 69 A to 69 E shall be inserted. Articles 69 A, 69 B and 69 D shall replace the current Article 31 = of the Treaty on European Union.

"CHAPTER 4 JUDICIAL COOPERATION IN CRIMINAL MATTERS= ”

“ARTICLE 69 C

The European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, may establish measures = to promote and support the action of Member States in the field of crime prevention, excluding any harmonisation of the = laws and regulations of the Member States.”

Consolidated Treaty Article(s):

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Expl= anation:

The existing Article 61 (e) TEC provides that “In order to establish progressively an area of freedom, security and justice, the Council shall adopt measures in the field of police and judici= al cooperation in criminal matters aimed at a high level of security by preven= ting and combating crime within the Union in accordance with the provisions of t= he Treaty on European Union.” EU funding programmes= have been dealt with as crime prevention issues. For example, the programme Pre= vention of and Fight against Crime provides financial support to activities on crime prevention and criminology.

The new Article 69C provides for a specific legal base for the adoption of EU crime prevention measures= . This is completely unacceptable. The European Parliament and the Council through= the ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision) may adopt measures “to promote and support the action of the Member States in the field of crime prevention.” Such measures will be adopted at the Council by QMV. It seems that the Union is only allowed to “support” the Member States since the “harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States” are excluded. Howev= er, despite the Treaty claims, such measures will interfere with the Member States crime prevention measures because this provision is not limited to crime with a cross-border dimension and therefore the Union will interfere with the Member States national program= mes to prevent crime. The provisions of this Article must be opposed.