Such a project would be eligible for financing under the new framework programme for judicial cooperation in civil matters.

It is essential that we have a European legal space and that we pursue its development with judicial cooperation in civil matters.

We must recall that the Treaties of the European Union incorporated judicial cooperation in civil matters in 1993.

The Council has also made effective progress in the area of judicial cooperation in civil matters which, moreover, constitutes an important dimension of Europeans’ lives.

When the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993, judicial cooperation in civil matters became a matter of common concern for the Member States.

Support for such projects will continue to be available through the new framework programme for judicial cooperation in civil matters, to be adopted by the end of March.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin with the first report by Mr von Boetticher on judicial cooperation in civil matters.

I thoroughly welcome this draft regulation by the Commission, which is intended to create a legal basis for the financing of judicial cooperation in civil matters by the EU Budget.

The network will also facilitate mutual understanding of the legal systems of the Member States, as well as providing a means of identifying and solving problems related to judicial cooperation in civil matters.

Consequently, the Commission considers that the necessary instruments - as concerns judicial cooperation in civil matters, including the family law area - are already in place to reach the objectives the Members refer to.

The entry into force of the present Treaty of Nice means that future decisions on judicial cooperation in civil matters will finally be reached by codecision procedure with qualified majority in the Council.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, cooperation in the taking of evidence is a specific example of judicial cooperation in civil matters referred to in Article 65 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

When the Treaty of Amsterdam entered into force, judicial cooperation in civil matters was transferred from the third pillar to the first, since when the European Community has elaborated an ambitious work programme in that area.

However, I would like to underline that the Council regards conclusion of this convention as a major priority in work under Title 6 of the Treaty in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters.

The Council has adopted the Framework Programme on Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters; the AGIS programme based on the Community framework model of activities designed to facilitate judicial cooperation in civil matters.

I must admit that I learnt something new from these two reports by Mrs Geringer de Oedenberg: I learnt that those countries that chose not to participate in judicial cooperation in civil matters had, nonetheless, also lost their sovereignty.

You may wish to know that, as concerns the implementation of the new programme in 2002, the Commission is considering giving priority to training for legal practitioners on Community instruments in the area of judicial cooperation in civil matters, including, for example, the Brussels II Regulation.

Furthermore, I would like to express my agreement with what previous speakers have said, that judicial cooperation in civil matters is now a European Union competence, pursuant to the Treaty of Amsterdam, and that, furthermore, we have the Hague Programme for implementing that cooperation.

While the Justice and Home Affairs pillar extended cooperation in law enforcement, criminal justice, asylum, and immigration and judicial cooperation in civil matters, some of these areas had already been subject to intergovernmental cooperation under the Schengen Implementation Convention of 1990.

The original legal basis is Title IV, Article 61 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which stipulates that the Council, in order to establish progressively an area of freedom, security and justice, shall adopt measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters.

The Treaty of Amsterdam also transferred the areas of asylum, immigration and judicial cooperation in civil matters from the JHA to the European Community pillar, the remainder being renamed Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC).

The objective of the two proposals covered by the reports from Mr Zwiefka and Mr Deprez is to establish a procedure which will allow the Member States to negotiate and conclude agreements with third countries on aspects of judicial cooperation in civil matters falling within the exclusive competence of the Community.

In reply to the fifth question, under the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Council will be required five years after the Treaty enters into force, i.e. in 2004, to reach a unanimous decision, following consultations with the European Parliament, on the codecision procedure for visas, asylum and immigration and on judicial cooperation in civil matters.