Living Europe safely

The Federal Ministry of the Interior has chosen “Living Europe Safely” as its motto during the German EU Presidency in the first half of 2007.

This motto is intended to convey the challenge we have set for ourselves and the expectations Europe’s citizens have of Europe. 3Our policy focuses on the interests of citizens. Our programme thus concentrates on the following issues: We want to fight international terrorism and cross-border crime more effectively, manage migration together, and make progress on integration and intercultural dialogue.

To achieve this, we want to strengthen cooperation on home affairs, continue ongoing projects and achieve practical results. We are guided by implementing the Hague Programme, which has defined the goals for home affairs since 2004.

Further, we want to provide impetus for the future of European internal policy. The Hague Programme ends in 2009. Then we will need a new programme to examine and set the priorities of European domestic policy in view of new challenges. We would like to initiate this discussion during the German Presidency. We find it very important for the Member States and the Union to agree on who will act and who will bear political responsibility. Only in this way can European domestic policy become more understandable, coherent and responsive to citizens’ needs. Our goal is to link unity with diversity in a meaningful way.