Brussels, 17/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Referring to “rumours” that she would not be attending the informal meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers to be held in Vilnius on Thursday 18 on Friday 19 July, Commissioner Viviane Reding told a press conference on Wednesday 17 July that she would, after all, be travelling to Vilnius where she would be presenting her latest proposal on the European public prosecutor, amongst other things (see other article).
Initially, Reding's services had announced that the Commissioner would not go to Lithuania, due partly to the fact that the agenda was not felt to be particularly crucial. Without establishing any specific link to comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday about the need for common rules on data protection and for a discussion of this matter at the meeting, Reding said on Wednesday that the ministers present in Vilnius should, indeed, discuss the issue of American espionage, particularly the PRISM programme, against the backdrop of the state of progress in the reform of the rules dating from 1995.
“In June, there was a formal meeting and certain ministers did not attend”, said Reding, referring, amongst others, to the German Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich. “I hope that the ministers who are committed to making progress with the reform will be at the next formal meeting, which is scheduled for October”, to move things forward, said the commissioner. But between now and then, “we can always talk”, Reding added. The German home affairs minister, who is also responsible for the data protection dossier, will be present this time in Vilnius, according to Germany's permanent representation, but it was not possible to confirm whether any specific meeting between Reding and Friedrich was scheduled. (SP/transl.fl)