Minister Rajamäki at EU-US meeting: Close cooperation needed to combat organised crime and human trafficking

The ministers discussed issues related to visa reciprocity. At the meeting, Mr Rajamäki drew attention to the situation in the EU-10 Member States.

"Travel facilitation based on reciprocity plays a key role in furthering transatlantic economic cooperation. In this light, we consider it important to continue the dialogue in a good spirit in order to ensure the equal treatment of all EU Member States in implementing visa policy," Mr Rajamäki pointed out.

The meeting agenda included discussion on the fight against child exploitation and the ways of increasing cooperation in this field.

"The parties have cooperated effectively in cases concerning the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. In fact, many EU countries have engaged in bilateral or multilateral cooperation with the United States in this field. Unfortunately, there have also been a few cases of exploitation in Finland," continued Mr Rajamäki.

The EU and US representatives stated that preventing terrorist financing and radicalisation are sectors where cooperation has worked well. Thus, cooperation in these sectors should also be strengthened in the future.

"The EU is planning to introduce in the near future legislation which would make it possible to address money laundering and the abuse of alternative remittance systems more effectively than before. Furthermore, Europol and the FBI have agreed to cooperate in investigating cases involving terrorist financing," said Mr Rajamäki.

"The group consisting of the country holding the Presidency, Council and the Commission has had useful discussions with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Security Council (NSC) and the State Department under the Finnish Presidency. As holder of the EU Presidency, Finland is pleased to note that Europol and the FBI are planning to continue to share experience on the forms of human trafficking and organised crime and the ways of combating them," Mr Rajamäki said.

"Internet is a major challenge in combating terrorism. We agreed that we would explore the ways of cooperating with the United States in combating the terrorist use of the Internet. The EU has also placed emphasis on research into radicalisation. The aim is to find out why second generation young people born in the EU become radicalised and what methods extremist groups use to find new recruits," explained Mr Rajamäki.

The parties also exchanged views on human trafficking and smuggling in their regions.

"Human smuggling becomes human trafficking in countries of destination. Therefore, the biggest problem of transit countries, for example Finland and many other EU countries, is to identify such cases. From the perspective of human trafficking and illegal immigration, corruption of the authorities is still a difficult problem in certain countries as it opens doors for illegal flows of people and goods. We must ensure reliability of action by public authorities. Otherwise the routes of human trafficking to the territory of the EU might go through the new Member States because of weaker control," Mr Rajamäki said.

EU and US authorities have cooperated closely in border management and illegal immigration issues.

"The EU pursues efforts to harmonise return procedures in different countries. In addition to harmonisation of return procedures, the EU strives to develop operational cooperation in return issues, for example through joint return flights. In this work the European Borders Agency (Frontex) has a coordinating role. It is important that people who reside illegally in the EU territory leave the territory after receiving a decision on removing them from the country. If necessary, it must be possible to remove them by taking coercive measures. Joint return flights are a concrete step towards this goal. Readmission agreements between the Community and third countries are a central tool in the management of illegal immigration," Mr Rajamäki explained.

"The exchange of information on decisions and policy guidelines relating to immigration and asylum policies has been improved in the EU by establishing a mutual information procedure between Member States. EU Member States are obligated to inform other Member States of the decisions and legislation concerning immigration and asylum policies which may have a considerable impact on other Member States or the EU as a whole."

"Frontex analyses the situation at borders on the basis of risk analyses and coordinates joint operational actions. Illegal immigration, related organised crime and the threat of terrorism are global problems," said Mr Rajamäki and continued, "threats and risks posed to the United States and the EU are very similar. Therefore, we will examine how the exchange of information on border management could be improved both at operational and strategic level. The EU is developing a joint concept for the control of maritime borders. I believe that the EU has much to learn from the experience gained by the United States Coast Guard in this field."