I would like to welcome the Minister to the House this evening to deal with the important implications of policing Europe post-1992. Great efforts have been made in the veterinary and fisheries areas to prepare the structures for the open trading post in 1992. In fact, economic legislation is far advanced. Less thought or action has been devoted to the possibilities open for international crime, especially in the area of terrorism, the illicit arms trade and drug trafficking.
In June 1985 a White Paper issued by the Commission of the European Communities outlined the philosophy behind the move towards open borders in 1992. It states:
The specific measures set out in the timetable aim to eliminate barriers of all kinds, physical, technical and fiscal. They would have an impact directly or indirectly on the lives of all Community citizens and on the functions of Community enterprises of all kinds. By 1992, Community citizens would for the first time be free to move within the Community without systematic checks on their identity or personal belongings; goods would be free of all controls at internal frontiers; Community manufacturers would be able to market their goods freely on the basis of mutually agreed standards throughout the Community; and the enterprises would be relieved of the current obstacles to providing cross-Border services.
There is no doubt about the commitment of the European Community towards the goal of open borders post 1992. The removal of these frontier checks within the Community will create a situation similar to that in the United States, which has a police system consisting of state forces plus an overall non-uniformed countrywide force in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This system has given rise to dissatisfaction in the United States. Association of Chiefs of Police President, Colonel Robert Landon, has noted in the magazine The Police Chief:
At present there is no apparatus available to help our nation mobilise, co-ordinate and focus our multiple law enforcement efforts. Law enforcement at the State and local levels need a collective voice at the national level.
He is supported by incoming President John D. Casey, who stressed that crime was primarily locally orientated and that there was a desire to limit federal intervention as much as possible but that there had been an enormous and excessive duplication of State and local government agencies to the extent that there was now more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide in the United States. Mr. Casey stated:
As a nation it has left us unable to come to grips with our collective crime control problems. The staggering crimes statistics reflected annually in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports stand as an indictment of our inabilities as a people to establish a common stronghold against crime.
He urges a common front against crime and with agreed strategies and remedial measures that focus resources, efforts and expertise and argued that such an approach should be used to tackle the crime problem especially in relation to the drugs problem. It is widely acknowledged by police and by others that the drug problem in the United States is totally out of control. The fragmentation of police forces in the United States has thus been a positive advantage to the criminals who have the freedom to move from state to state while local police jurisdiction ends at the state line.
A similar system will exist in Europe after 1992 with the added disadvantage that there is no system similar to the FBI with cross-border powers. I would be pleased if the Minister would give his views on this. It is important that detailed consideration must now be given to this aspect of the situation and remedies considered. One such consideration which has been promoted is the creation of a uniformed European police force with authority to cross borders and arrest suspects for certain scheduled offences like drug selling, arms trafficking and other scheduled offences. I can see that there would be obvious difficulties with our Garda on this issue and I would like the Minister to give us his views on this. I am aware that there is co-operation at a certain level between the European police forces through Interpol, the TREVI and Pompidou groups. The deliberations of these groups are quite secretive and I feel that the citizens of Europe and the citizens of this country need reassurance on this issue. Indeed, the criminals throughout Europe must know what plans are afoot to ensure that there is a deterrent against the action which they will take post 1992.
In the light of the massive scale of international criminal activity, drug trading, terrorist activities and so on, it is important that the police forces of Europe integrate into a cohesive unit which will have adequate resources to carry out detailed research into the problem, formulate laws and strategies to combat it.
In relation to the drugs problem a committee of inquiry in 1986 reported:
Urgent action is needed to improve co-ordination and efficiency of all law enforcement agencies involved with drug trafficking across the Community. The trafficker operates on a multinational basis which knows no boundaries and the war against organised criminal drug organisations will be lost unless we co-ordinate our forces in a similar way. Therefore, we urgently recommend that a European Community Drugs Task Force be set up to be modelled on the existing United States Task Force Programme and adapted for Community use with all possible improvements. The relevant department of Interpol should be expanded, reorganised on the basis of a number of principles and recommendations suggested in this report and given financial backing.
I would like the Minister to update us on the position regarding this. It is frightening to note that between 5 and 10 per cent only of drugs are recovered by the security forces each year. It will be difficult under the best circumstances to combat this. Open borders will facilitate even more the distribution of drugs throughout the European Community member countries. The European Cornmission in 1987 issued a report entitled Target 1992 — Europe Without Frontiers; Towards a Larger Internal Market. This report stated:
... frontier police checks, which are often part of the fight against terrorism, drugs or crime, are to be eliminated. This would have to be accompanied by greater co-operation between police authorities, closer approximation of national laws on arms and narcotics, tighter controls on the Community's external frontiers and harmonisation of rules for persons from third countries and for visa policy.
In an open border situation an essential ingredient in the fight against criminal activity is the harmonisation of laws within the European Community countries. In the event of disparities in the laws continuing, criminals will centralise their operations in the country which is perceived to have the most lenient legislation in the areas of penalties, the seizure of assets and so on. Using that country as a base, criminals, drug dealers, illicit arms traders, terrorists and so on will farm out their illegal activities to the other countries. I would like to ask the Minister to inform us of what measures have been taken by the European Community and by the Irish Government to ensure that no country, including this country, offers a refuge in this way. I ask the Minister to inform the House also if the harmonisation of police powers and abilities have been considered by the EC. A country which is perceived to have a police force which is deficient in terms of manpower, training and equipment will also attract criminals as a centre for their operations. Has the Community taken action to initiate plans to correct any imbalance between the police forces of the EC? The disadvantage posed by the continuing existence of a national frontiers to police action post 1992 should be studied and solutions posed.
I would appreciate also if the Minister would inform the House if the EC have investigated the international banking situation as an unwitting facilitator of depositing proceeds for criminal activity. International banking legislation and conventions of secrecy at present facilitate the safe disposal and concealment of the vast profits made from criminal activity. While I accept that the confidentiality of legitimate financial transactions must be maintained, I would ask the Minister if any progress has been made to devise means of detecting quantities of funds from criminal activities within the legitimate banking system and if there are any proposals to make the laundering of such money impossible.
The difficulties with open borders were highlighted by the problems which arose on the experimental arrangements between France, Germany and other mid-European countries under the Shengen agreement. Some of the Shengen groups have very grave reservations about the situation under open borders and are pulling back from the arrangement.
I would also like to ask the Minister if the European Commission have considered the policing implications post 1992 of the opening up of eastern European borders especially in the context of the movement towards German unity. Do we know the policing policies, training, rules and procedures of the police forces of eastern Europe, especially the police force of eastern Germany? How are they recruited and controlled? The repressive nature of the totalitarian regimes in operation heretofore may remain with a police force trained under such conditions. Have the EC considered this situation? I ask the Minister to comment on these matters. I thank him for being here and listening to me. I ask him as a member of the Government which holds the Presidency of Europe, and I ask it in a European context as well as in a national context.
