Brussels, 03/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Just as at the Council meeting in October, the main items on the agenda of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Brussels, on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 December, will be data protection, migratory flows and foreign fighters.
The Council meeting will begin with justice issues and a number of decisions will be taken on personal data, the presumption of innocence and the reform of Eurojust. With regard to the reform of data protection rules, a partial general approach is expected on several chapters of the general regulation, including on relaxation of public sector rules, and on adjustments for specific sectors, such as research and the press. Ministers will also discuss the “one-stop-shop” mechanism on the basis of a fresh proposal from the Italian Presidency and guidelines are expected. Overall agreement would seem to be a possibility under Latvian presidency.
On the public sector chapter, the Italian Presidency has taken account of the German request that public administrations be given as much freedom of movement as possible in implementing the rules. Thus the regulation contains a provision allowing member states to introduce or retain national provisions to provide a little bit more clarity over application of the rules contained in the regulation and give them greater wiggle room. An initial Presidency proposal contained a minimal harmonisation clause for the public sector. “It's 'directivisation' of the regulation”, said a source ironically, coining a new noun. For others, it is quite simply “germanisation” of the regulation, the Germans having been very keen on flexibility for the public sector. The guidance given is expected to be accepted without any difficulty, opined a source from a country for which the matter is highly important and which wanted a directive rather than this regulation. The other chapters to be discussed relate to special categories of data for processing, for example, in research or records, special rules for access to public documents and for journalism, where a balance has to be found with respect for the principle of freedom of expression.
As for the “one-stop-shop” on settlement of disputes between companies and citizens, the Presidency proposes that disputes that concern only one member state to continue to be matters for that country's protection authorities. The “one-stop-shop” would only come into play in transnational cases, that is, when the actions of a company affect citizens of more than one country. In these major cases, it would be the authorities of the country most affected or the one most likely to be effective which would deliver a decision (to impose a penalty, for example) but only after consultation with all the national authorities involved. This arrangement is felt to clarify things and to maintain the closeness of the link with citizens, since they will be able also to turn to their national regulator. The Board - the data protection committee that brings together national regulators and Commission representatives - will only be asked to intervene where the national regulators themselves are in disagreement.
This new model is also expected to find support.
A general approach is expected to be adopted on the presumption of innocence and a partial general approach on Eurojust, the chapters on the European prosecutor's office and on data protection not, for the moment, forming part of the agreement. A further policy debate will be held on the prosecutor's office and will focus on how to respect prosecutors' independence.
Ministers are expected to reach a political agreement on the new insolvency rules and a general approach on the small claims procedure.
PNR proposals over lunch
In the home affairs section of the Council, ministers will return to the work of the anti-terrorism coordinator on foreign fighters and to the follow-up on the Mediterranean task force, which will provide the opportunity to discuss the start made by the Triton operation which took over from Mare Nostrum. The report by Gilles De Kerchove relates mainly to the legal response to be given to the foreign fighters phenomenon. Some 3,000 Europeans are thought to be involved in the fighting in Syria and Iraq. This issue will also be discussed by justice ministers over lunch.
On Friday, ministers will again discuss the European PNR directive, with a view to relaunching the process in the European Parliament. Ministers will discuss the obstacles they face and, in particular, the recent call from the Parliament to refer the EU-Canada PNR agreement to the Court of Justice, “something we had not anticipated”, said a European source on Tuesday. This call, together with the Court's annulment of the data retention directive will not make the ministers' task any easier. Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos was expected to make some announcements on the matter on 3 December.
No fresh progress on migratory flows is expected, with ministers likely to restrict themselves to taking stock of what has been done between the various operations in the Mediterranean Sea and the commitment to tackle human trafficking and closer cooperation with the countries of departure and transit. (SP)