Vijf grootste EU-landen bespreken samenwerking in politie-zaken (en)

During a meeting of home affairs ministers yesterday in Germany, the EU's big five tacitly agreed to allow 'sky marshals' onto commercial flights as well as to tackle euro-counterfeiting at a pan-European level.

Representatives of Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy met in Garmisch-Partenkirchen southern Germany to discuss the future of the Europe-wide police force, Europol.

Although no formal decisions were taken, the five agreed to hand responsibility for tackling euro-counterfeiting over to Europol as well as adopting a joint strategy on the deportation of unwanted refugees, according to AFP.

Ministers also discussed the American plan to place armed guards on transatlantic flights, the so-called sky marshals.

AFP reports that there was tacit agreement on allowing `sky marshals' onto some flights.

The meeting comes ahead of a full gathering of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers to be held on Thursday in Brussels.

As the five represent 80 percent of the current EU population and two thirds of the population in the enlarged Union, their agreements are likely to set the standards for future EU decisions.

The organiser of the third so-called G5 meeting was German interior minister Otto Schily.

The five have met before in Spain, in May 2003, and in France last October.