The European Ministers of Justice will meet, on Thursday 11 March by videoconference, to discuss data retention, the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, judicial training and the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Data retention. They will first discuss data retention, following a new ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in October 2020 (see EUROPE 12671/22, 12670/17). This is in addition to the 2014 (Digital Rights Ireland) and 2016 (Tele 2) cases.
“Seven years after the CJEU invalidated the Data Retention Directive, a solution is necessary”, stresses the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council in a document in preparation for the meeting.
See the Portuguese Presidency document: https://bit.ly/30wGUHn.
The European institution points out that “a number of Member States supported the adoption of European legislation harmonising the legal regime for data retention”. According to the minutes of the Coordinating Committee in the area of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (CATS) of 8 February, these are Estonia, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Spain and Slovakia, supported by the anti-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove.
The ministerial debate is expected therefore to focus on whether or not a legislative proposal is necessary and whether a targeted or broad approach is needed.
Also on the ‘data’ window, the European Commission will present to the ministers its two draft decisions recognising that UK legislation provides an adequate level of protection when EU citizens’ personal data is transferred to the UK (see EUROPE 12662/2).
It will also present to them its proposal on the Digital Services Act (DSA), presented in December 2020 (see EUROPE 12623/1). Although the text is being discussed in the ‘Competitiveness’ Council, it nevertheless contains important provisions on the fight against illegal online content, which are the responsibility of the Ministers of Justice.
Fundamental rights. A discussion on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is also planned. A new strategy to ensure the proper application of the Charter was presented by the Commission in early December (see EUROPE 12614/27).
An EU Council resolution on the subject, which constitutes a response by the Member States to the strategy, has been drawn up and has already been adopted by written procedure. The States envisage, in particular, the holding of annual exchanges of views on the application of the Charter (see EUROPE 12670/5).
The Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, will take part in the discussion. Some interventions are therefore expected.
Judicial training. The ministers will then look at judicial training. The Portuguese Presidency is expected to briefly inform ministers on EU Council conclusions, which have already been adopted by written procedure on 8 March (see EUROPE 12669/3). Few discussions are expected on this subject.
The text fully supports the strategy on judicial training for 2021-2024, presented by the Commission at the end of 2020 (see EUROPE 12614/12). It points in particular to the close links between judicial training and the digitisation of judicial systems. In particular, it calls on the Commission to better inform and simplify access to EU funding.
During the meeting, the Commission will also inform the ministers of the opportunities offered by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the budgetary instrument at the heart of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan, in terms of the digitalisation of Justice.
European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Commission will again inform ministers of the progress made in setting up the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The appointment of European Delegated Prosecutors is progressing slowly (see EUROPE 12669/4), so that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is not expected to begin operations until May or June.
By the end of February, only 32 European Delegated Prosecutors from seven Member States (Germany, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Romania and the Netherlands), out of the 140 prosecutors expected from the 22 participating countries, had been appointed.
Rule of law. Finally, the Commission should also inform ministers on the preparation of the 2021 report on the Rule of law, within the framework of the annual European protection mechanism.
It should be noted that Lithuania will again draw the ministers’ attention to the measures taken by Russia against Lithuanian judges and prosecutors. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana, Sophie Petitjean and Agathe Cherki)