Auf dem Europäischen Rat von Wien am 11. und 12. Dezember 1998 nehmen die Staats- und Regierungschefs der fünfzehn Mitgliedstaaten der EU im Beisein der Außenminister der Staaten Mittel- und Osteuropas (MOEL) und Zyperns einen Aktionsplan an, mit dem die nach dem Inkrafttreten des Vertrags von Amsterdams zu treffenden Maßnahmen bestimmt werden, um einen europäischen Raum der Freiheit, der Sicherheit und des Rechts zu schaffen.
On 11 and 12 December 1998, the Vienna European Council adopts the report approved by the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 3 December 1998 in Brussels on the action plan of the Council and the Commission concerning the optimum terms for putting in place the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty regarding the establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice.
On 20 December 1996, the European Council of Ministers adopts a Joint Action on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union in order to establish for the period 1997–2000 a common programme for the exchange and training of, and cooperation between, the law enforcement authorities of the Member States (Oisin).
On 22 November 2000, in a bid to help enhance judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the European Union and to combat organised crime, the European Commission adopts a communication in which it comments on the tasks assigned to the Eurojust unit which was established by the Fifteen at the Tampere European Council of 15 and 16 October 1999 in the form of a service, based in Brussels, consisting of magistrates, prosecutors, judges and other legal experts, seconded from each Member State of the European Union.
In January 1999, the French monthly magazine Le Monde diplomatique comments on the decision of the Fifteen to create a ‘no-go area’ — a ‘cordon sanitaire’ — along their shared borders, in order to achieve better control over the influx of immigrants and asylum seekers.
On 14 July 1998, resolved to work towards the establishment of a European area of justice and internal affairs, the European Commission publishes the communication Towards an area of freedom, security and justice, which, in application of the Treaty of Amsterdam, seeks inter alia to bring the European Union closer to the people.
