COUNCIL OF MINISTERS: MOVE TO STREAMLINE JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS WORKING GROUPS.

The Swedes launched a drive in January 2001 to try to diminish the mounting volume of legislation on the Council's table in the justice and home affairs field. They believe their simpler, more flexible system will help the Council create the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice which was the goal fixed at the Tampere Summit in October 1999. The idea is that the working groups will take on more responsibility and be able to forge agreement on texts before they get to the Committee of Member States' Permanent Representatives to the EU (COREPER). That in turn should ease the burden on EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, who are often expected to clinch deals on six or seven major proposals during a one-day Council.The following is the group structure suggested:* Theme 1 - Asylum: Would carry out the functions of the asylum group and the Centre for Information and Discussion on Asylum (CIREA)* Theme 2 Migration: Would fulfil the tasks of the migration and frontiers groups, as well as the Centre for Information and Discussion on Frontiers and Immigrations (CIREFI). The plan is that CIREA and CIREFI would eventually be transferred to the European Commission.* Theme 3 - Visas: Same as the current visas group* Theme 4 - Police Co-operation: Would effectively merge the police...