Brussels, 07/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU home affairs and justice ministers will gather in Luxembourg on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October for a formal Council meeting which will be devoted on Thursday to the follow-up on migration crisis management measures and on Friday to continuing discussion of European personal data protection rules.
On Thursday home affairs ministers are expected to complete their discussions on the decisions to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers over two years, following several informal meetings that have been given over to this issue, allowing them once again to focus all their attention on how to tighten control of the EU's external borders and the return policy. Ministers will adopt conclusions on this policy, with the member states keen to tighten implementation of return decisions and bring pressure on irregular migrants' countries of origin to take them back on to their territory.
Ministers will base their discussions on the assessment of the return directive, the assessment of the Schengen information systems for listing those people on whom a decision to return has been taken and the Frontex mandate and the agency's role in coordinating returns in the EU - the Commission is due to propose an amendment on this strand at the end of the year. According to conclusions leaked on the Statewatch site, the member states will focus on the financial efforts required to make the return policy work and on the greater efforts they must make, with some devoting far more staff to returns than others. Encouraging voluntary returns will also form part of the debate.
No decision is expected on Thursday on external border management in itself but ministers are likely to discuss Frontex missions and possibilities for specialist staff from other member states providing assistance to the coast guards of a sovereign member state. Commission plans to present a proposal on a European border guard system at the end of 2015 will also be discussed but the member states are dragging their heels somewhat on this measure which is likely to encroach on ordinarily sovereign duties of external border management.
Ministers will nonetheless take stock of the progress of relocation measures and of the implementation of hotspots, these decisions being due to come into effect from 9 October, beginning with 20 Eritreans to be relocated to Sweden from Italy (see other article). They are unlikely, however, to bring forward a list of safe countries of origin, a source has indicated, there still remaining a great deal of technical work to be done in drafting this list. The issue of whether Turkey, a country with which the member states want to cooperate but one which raises security concerns (with regard to the Kurds, for instance), should be included in the list or not is likely to be broached on the margins of the overall discussion on the external borders.
Conclusions will also be adopted on tackling firearms trafficking, in an attempt to set minimum standards to systemise registration of illegal firearms and improve traceability in the Schengen information system. Progress towards minimum standards on de-activating arms is also expected.
Also on Thursday, ministers will be briefed on proposals for a European PNR, currently in trialogue negotiations stage with the Commission and the Parliament. The member states want to see adoption before the end of this year.
In the justice section, ministers are expected, in principle, to reach agreement on the directive on the protection of person data in criminal and judicial matters (transfer of information and public files between member states' judicial and law enforcement authorities). This general approach will allow talks with the European Parliament to be opened.
On Friday morning, the ministers' agenda will also contain the Safe Harbour ruling delivered by the Court of Justice on 6 October. Ministers will be updated on this ruling which nullifies the Commission decision dating from 2000 and, by this fact, makes illegal all transfers between European firms and US firms of personal data under the Safe Harbour provisions over the last 15 years.
Also featuring on the ministers' agenda is the European prosecutor. Ministers will discuss the issue of the admissibility of evidence between countries. The Luxembourg Presidency wants to rack up agreements on a range of points. Ministers will discuss the pending issue of the EU's accession to the European convention on human rights, after the general conclusions of the Court of Justice of the EU in 2014 affirming that accession is incompatible with Community law.
Conference on Western Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean. Home affairs and migration ministers will be joined in the later part of the day on 8 October by their foreign affairs counterparts and the ministers from the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/FYROM, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia), Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan for a high-level conference to reinforce the commitment of all partners, increase solidarity and ensure ordered management flows of migrants and refugees.
Ministers will discuss their increased support for the countries neighbouring Syria, the main country of departure of refugees, and the transit countries affected by the migration crisis, including Serbia and FYROM. The meeting will also look at the causes of the forced displacements. The Syrian crisis will, of course, be at the heart of the discussions, which will also range over tackling terrorism in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Ministers want to work, too, with the countries of origin of irregular migrants and on increasing cooperation to tackle organised crime responsible for trafficking migrants. The conference is expected to adopt a declaration. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with CG)