Informal JHA Meeting in Bucharest: 6-8 February

EU Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) gather in Parliament Palace of Bucharest on 6-8 February for an informal meeting. Event takes place in the context of Romania`s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Home Affairs Meeting will be chaired by Romanian Minister of Internal Affairs, Carmen Dan, and Justice Affairs Meeting will be chaired by Romanian Minister of Justice, Tudorel Toader.

Aside from Justice and Home Affairs Ministers from EU Member States, meeting will be attended by Dimitris Avramopoulos - European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Julian King -European Commissioner for the Security Union, Věra Jourová - European Commissioner for Justice, Consumer Protection and Gender Equality, Gilles de Kerchove - EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator, Claude Moraes - Chair of LIBE Committee of the European Parliament, Pavel Svoboda - President of JURI Committee of the European Parliament, Ladislav Hamran - President of EUROJUST, Catherine De Bolle - Executive Director of EUROPOL, Fabrice Leggeri - FRONTEX Director, Michael O’Flaherty - Director of European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), Tiina Astola - General Director for Justice and Consummers Department within the European Commision, Christine Roger - General Director for Justice and Home Affairs within the General Secretariat of the European Union Council, as well as other officials from European Agencies.

Event will kick off on the evening of 6 February with a welcome cocktail for delegations members from Home Affairs component.

On Thursday, 7 February, EU Home Affairs Ministers will meet to discuss issues related to preventing and combating terrorism, police cooperation, Schengen Area, migration and asylum.

On Friday, 8 February, EU Justice Ministers will discuss about the development of judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters between EU Members States, the gathering of electronic evidence in criminal matter and the future of judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU.

PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR HOME AFFAIRS SESSION

Terrorism

Romanian EU Council Presidency will aim to intensify cooperation and exchange of good practices between EU Member States in preventing and combating terrorism. At the meeting in Bucharest, there will be an exchange of views regarding the findings and recommendations of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Terrorism, in the context of the efforts to explore the best ways of dealing with these threats to the security of our citizens.

Police cooperation

In the digital era, the need for innovation and cooperation is stronger than ever. More and more unconventional threats such as cybercrime, widespread organized crime and terrorism are actual nowadays. In order to keep up with the dynamics of the criminal environment, all law enforcement authorities should recognize, understand and use digital data in day-to-day police activities. Within the meeting, Romania EU Council Presidency intends to prioritize exchange of knowledge and expertise (know-how) in the field of digital data.

Schengen

In the last decade, conflicts in different regions of the world or in the neighbourhood of the EU and the increase of terrorist threats have triggered challenges for EU’s internal security and the management of EU’s external borders and have determined several EU Member States to reintroduce temporary controls at internal borders, putting into question the proper functioning of the Schengen Area of free movement.

Informal meeting in Bucharest will provide with the opportunity to approach issues related to the short and medium term measures that EU Member States consider necessary in order to restore the functioning of the Schengen Area. Also, the ways to ensure a greater coherence between the policies and instruments that define the Schengen Area will be on the agenda.

Romania considers taking this opportunity to look into new ways of strengthening the Schengen area.

Migration and asylum

Romanian EU Presidency will continue talks in order to identify consensual solutions in the field of migration. As part of the efforts to reduce illegal migration flows towards EU, the external dimension of migration and cooperation with third countries is a priority.

PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR JUSTICE SESSION

Ways for further development of the judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters

Main objective is to start a reflection process on the future of judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters in the EU after 2019, by taking into account the acquis implementation dimension and in the context of the European Parliament`s term, that ends in May 2019, and the end of the mandate of the current European Commission in October 2019.

Gathering electronic evidence in criminal law – protection of people in cyberspace through an efficient response by criminal justice, in respect of the rule of law standards and the fundamental human rights

Cybercrime and the electronic evidence create challenges of an unprecedented complexity for the criminal justice. Often, the necessary evidence is held by multinational providers that offer their services in a particular Member State, are located in another state and the data is stored in a third country.

Informal meeting of Justice Ministers will offer the opportunity for an exchange of views and the increase of the public awareness, at national level (including private sector and civil society) and EU level, of proposed solutions and procedural guarantees provided, including with regard to necessity, proportionality, ways of judicial review and standards of personal data protection.

Also, there will be a first exchange of views on future international agreements in the matter.

Future of judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU

Today, EU is based on a strong and detailed legal framework on judicial cooperation in criminal matters, juridical instruments that implement mutual recognition of judicial decisions principle being at the core of this legal framework. At this informal meeting, a reflection process about this topic will start, the ministers being invited to share their point of view on some possible strategic developments in the field of EU judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

Source:RRA,Romania2019.eu.Translated by Miruna Matei