The National Forum on Europe - The changing role of Ireland in a changing European Union

The National Forum on Europe - The changing role of Ireland in a changing European Union: "Cross-border crime and terrorism
The Secretary General said that in order to keep its citizens safe after 9/11 and enlargement, the Commission was proposing that more measures to tackle cross-border crime and terrorism should be decided by qualified majority voting rather than by leaving any government with the right to exercise a veto. Ms Day said the Commission expected “major developments” which would see Member States
sharing sovereignty in certain judicial and legal areas in order to make the enlarged EU more secure. However, not all Member States were behind the Commission on this issue. “It will require unanimity and there isn’t that at the moment”, she said.
Ms Day also said the Commission was working on a series of proposals to combat what Fine Gael’s European Affairs spokesman, Bernard Allen called “the immoral trade in human beings…mainly of young, vulnerable women”. Ms Day agreed that trafficking was “one of the scourges that can be tackled at EU level”. However, in response to a query from another Fine Gael Forum Member, Nora Owen, she added that the Commission wanted to tackle the problem without re-introducing internal border controls.
Enlargement
The future enlargement of the Union to include Turkey and the Balkan States was raised by several Forum Members. Labour TD, Joe Costello, said his party supported the Commission’s policy of honouring commitments to countries awaiting accession to the EU. However, he called for dialogue with EU citizens on this issue. “There is a need to engage with public opinion…to overcome doubts and fears and to recall the evident successes of past enlargements, not least in streng"
From Euro forum debate on Ireland