On Wednesday 2 December, the European Ministers of Justice will meet by videoconference to discuss the judicial aspects of the fight against terrorism, developments in the Rule of law and the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Terrorism. Ministers will first discuss the response to terrorism in the aftermath of the attacks in France, Germany and Austria.
They will focus on the judicial aspects of the fight against terrorism, including the fight against hate speech online as the Council of the EU and the European Parliament are still trying to agree on the regulation on the one-hour withdrawal of terrorist content online (see EUROPE 12603/9) and the Commission will present on 9 December a new arsenal against online hate.
In this discussion on counter-terrorism, they are also expected to bring up the improvement of digital cooperation and the latest report on victims of terrorism (see EUROPE 12513/11).
European Arrest Warrant. They will also adopt conclusions on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).
The draft text, dated 23 November and seen by EUROPE, shows that the Council of the EU envisages several improvements to this tool, in particular as regards the national transposition and practical application of the EAW, support for executing authorities in dealing with fundamental rights assessments in the field of extradition requests of EU citizens to non-Member States and strengthening procedures for surrender of EAWs in times of crisis.
In the text, it is noted that several countries have refused to execute EAWs because of doubts about the Rule of law in the requesting Member State (this was the case between Ireland and Poland) and that the EU Court of Justice has validated these national decisions of non-execution of EAWs.
The EU Council therefore reminds “Member States of their responsibility to ensure respect for the rule of law in the EU and to guarantee the right to a fair trial and, in particular, access to an independent and impartial tribunal”.
Member States must take the necessary measures to “remedy shortcomings in order to strengthen mutual trust and avoid the risk of politicisation of cooperation in criminal matters”, the text says.
The Council of the EU further stresses the importance of providing practitioners with the necessary support and information to assess whether there is a real risk of a lack of independence of the courts in deciding whether or not to execute an EAW and whether there are, consequently, serious risks in returning that person to the requesting country.
Rule of law. The Commission’s first annual report on the rule of law, presented on 30 September (see EUROPE 12571/5), and its sections on the independence of judicial systems will also be discussed.
According to a note from the German Presidency, consulted by EUROPE, the Ministers of Justice will be invited in particular to discuss the aspects they consider especially important and to indicate whether they consider it useful to encourage judges to participate directly in the dialogue on the Rule of law, possibly through the creation of a dedicated forum.
European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Commission will also make its traditional information point on the state of play of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
According to a ‘non-paper’ from the Commission dated 24 November, a copy of which has been obtained by EUROPE, the majority of Member States have not yet made the legal and administrative adaptations necessary to comply with the Regulation implementing the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Moreover, most Member States have not yet appointed their European delegated prosecutors.
“This risks delaying the implementation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which cannot take place until the first quarter of 2021 at the earliest”, the Commission warns.
The German Presidency will also present to the Ministers its report (see EUROPE 12604/14) on the interpretation of the existing EU instruments on reciprocal recognition and judicial cooperation, which is intended to enable the European Public Prosecutor’s Office to use them in its cooperation with the authorities of Member States not participating in the enhanced cooperation establishing it.
Claims. The German Presidency will also present a progress report (see EUROPE 12610/29) on the work in the EU Council on the proposal for a Regulation on the law applicable to the effectiveness of assignments of claims.
Despite some progress under the German Presidency (see EUROPE 12539/11), the report concludes that “In view of the complexity of the proposal, its possible impact on financial markets and its interconnection with other instruments of Union law, further work at technical level is necessary before the Council can take a political decision”.
Finally, Portugal will present its priorities in the field of justice for its future Presidency of the Council. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Marion Fontana)