At a meeting of Home Affairs Ministers on Thursday 6 December, the Austrian Presidency of the EU Council will seek partial political agreement in principle (a 'general approach') on certain sections of the new mandate for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), a Presidency spokesman told EUROPE on Friday 23 November.
The preliminary agenda for this meeting (to be followed on 7 December by the ‘Justice’ session) was discussed on Wednesday 21 November by the national heads of mission (COREPER) and is due to be confirmed on Wednesday, but the objective is to achieve a partial approach to the “returns” part of Frontex’s mandate and to cooperation with third countries.
This would therefore not yet involve the issue of staffing, which, in mid-September, the Commission proposed increasing to 10,000 by the end of 2020.
It should be remembered that, on 12 September, when it strengthened the agency’s mandate, the Commission (see EUROPE 12094) proposed that the agency should assist Member States with returns, particularly in identifying third-country nationals who were in their countries illegally, in acquiring travel documents and in preparing their decisions on returns.
The new agency may also run operations with third countries and deploy agents in the territories or in the waters of other third countries, with their agreement.
The Presidency has submitted proposals for amendments to these sections, which should be presented in a working group on Monday 26 November. According to a note dated 21 November, the Presidency emphasises, inter alia, the role of pre- and post-return assistance, including for voluntary returns, and on an information exchange system within the agency that would collect data - in particular biometric or biographical data - provided by the Member States on their returns operations.
The Austrian Presidency will also seek to achieve a partial general approach on the regulation to remove online terrorist content.
With regard to the Asylum package, it was only able to consider a recent progress report, as discussions with the European Parliament on the most advanced texts (qualifying for return, how returnees will be received, and resettlement) have not progressed.
The Austrian Presidency must also inform its counterparts about the tour of the capitals it began a few weeks ago to find a solution to the matter of the Dublin Regulation. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)