The European Commission has presented its Communication “Report on Implementation of the Hague Programme for 2007” COM(2008) 373 final of 2nd July 2008.

The purpose of this exercise is to monitor adoption of the measures envisaged in the Hague Programme both at institutional level and their implementation at national level. It includes the drugs action plan, the strategy covering the external aspects of the area of freedom, security and justice, and the action plan to fight against terrorism, which supplement the Hague Action Plan, in accordance with the set timetable

The general overall assessment is rather unsatisfactory as a significant number of actions envisaged in the Action Plan had to be abandoned or delayed, either because they were superseded by events or because priorities shifted to other areas. Moreover, the timing of some actions had to be reconsidered, taking into account possible developments in the institutional context.