Govt for Ratifying Pruem Treaty
The government on Wednesday adopted a bill to endorse the Pruem Treaty, a document signed by seven EU member states in a bid to enhance cross-border cooperation in the combat against terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration.
The treaty was signed by Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria in Pruem, Germany, in May of 2005. The document has so far been ratified by Austria, Spain and Germany, while it is expected to take effect in the first half of this year in the other signatories.
Slovenia was the only among the ten 2004 newcomers to sign in December 2006 a joint declaration, thereby expressing its interest to join the treaty. Apart from Slovenia, such interest has also been voiced by Finland, Portugal and Italy.
Signed some 20 years after the Schengen Agreement abolished border controls and ten years after the zone expanded, the Pruem Treaty, or Schengen III as it is also called, allows the signatories to exchange data on suspects' DNA, hooligans and stolen vehicles, as well as enables them to form joint patrols.
A joint declaration supplements the treaty with the positions on how individual parties should understand the documents' stipulations.
At January's informal meeting of EU interior ministers in Dresden, Slovenia backed the German presidency's proposal for the Pruem Treaty to be incorporated in EU legislation. In this way, all EU member states would commit themselves to closer cross-border police cooperation.
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