On Thursday 6 December in Brussels, Home Affairs Ministers of the Twenty-Eight are expected to approve, in principle, two political agreements ('general approaches') on the protection of the European Union's external borders and the fight against terrorism.
The ‘Home Affairs’ Council are expected to thus validate a partial general approach on the new mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (formerly Frontex), concerning the return of migrants and the Agency's cooperation with third countries.
Ministers will give the first green light to the reform presented by the Commission in mid-September, which aims to strengthen the Agency's human capital and give it more powers over returns and cooperation with third countries (see EUROPE 12094).
On the return of illegal migrants, new administrative skills will be given to Frontex staff. Financial support will be given to Member States to better manage data on return operations.
Member countries may also cooperate with third countries, in particular African countries, which wish to do so through bilateral agreements or other regional arrangements. The Agency will be authorised to carry out return operations from one third country to another, but only if these two third countries have given their consent.
This will be the case for a number of African countries that will be "takers", a diplomatic source said on Wednesday 5 December.
However, Member States have not yet agreed to increase Frontex's staff to 10,000 by the end of 2020.
According to several sources, Member States consider this timetable unrealistic, with some delegations such as France considering that the target set for all categories combined should be achieved by 2027.
The compromise of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU thus refers to 5,000 people for the European Agency in 2020, including 1,000 permanent staff (category 1), and 10,000 people in 2027, including 3,000 permanent staff.
No breakthrough expected on ‘asylum’ package
Ministers will take stock of the reform of the European asylum system, in particular over lunch, during which they will discuss the migration phenomenon in general.
But no breakthrough was expected on Wednesday 5 December on this issue, which has made almost no progress under the Austrian Presidency.
Instead of just talking about the relocation of asylum seekers within the EU, Vienna would like to explore three ways in which a Member State can show solidarity with a front line country facing a massive influx of refugees: - the 'internal' dimension, in particular through the care of migrants; - support for the protection of the EU's external borders, and; - cooperation with third countries of origin and transit.
Each Member State would be free to choose its own method of intervention to show solidarity.
One hour to remove illegal content online
Ministers are expected to adopt a general approach on the mandatory withdrawal of online terrorist content within one hour, under penalty of sanctions for the content's hosts (see EUROPE 12095).
The Austrian compromise clarifies the definition of 'terrorist content' by aligning it with the definition in the European Directive on terrorism. Member States will also have to coordinate with each other before issuing withdrawal notifications. Lastly, the question of the competent jurisdiction has been clarified .
See the text of the agreement: https://bit.ly/2RCVXJt. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)