The EU27 interior ministers will meet in Prague on Monday 11 July for an informal meeting on managing migration in the EU and fighting online child pornography.
They will also meet the Ukrainian and Moldovan interior ministers in the morning and discuss the impact of the war in Ukraine on security in the EU.
The interoperability of European information systems, which is to become effective in 2023, will be on the agenda as well.
On migration, the ministers will also have a wide-ranging discussion on the challenges facing member states today, from the Russian invasion and its effects on the rising cost of living to threats to food supplies, as the war in Ukraine has created “secondary effects and new risks that will most likely have an impact on the situation along other migration routes, notably the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, as well as on the global migration environment”, explains a working document. Climate change and attempts to instrumentalise migration are other challenges that will be discussed.
They are also expected to, in principle, continue to exchange views on the declaration of solidarity for the benefit of frontline countries and take stock of voluntary commitments in terms of relocation of people rescued at sea or financial and material aid.
“Without prejudice to the Presidency’s commitment to make progress on comprehensive asylum and migration reform in the second phase of the gradual approach, we would like to invite ministers to reflect on the current state of play and possible developments”, the working document states.
Two questions will guide the ministers’ discussion: “Does the EU have adequate and sufficiently effective instruments to prevent a new flux in migration? Which instruments do ministers consider most fundamental to strengthening the effectiveness of EU preparedness and resilience in the medium and long term?”.
As regards the regulation on the prevention of online sexual abuse of children, this will be a first ever exchange of views at ministerial level on the Commission proposal presented in May (see EUROPE 12976/10, 12950/5). This is particularly controversial in Germany. Berlin is notably concerned about mass surveillance of private communications.
According to the website Netzpolitik, the Commission has estimated that one in ten private conversations flagged by artificial intelligence algorithms as being suitable for ‘child solicitation’ could constitute a false positive.
“Given that the EU plans to exceed the current number of 29 million reports per year (the average number of child pornography detections), more than three million often intimate conversations and photos would be wrongly disclosed each year”, said Patrick Breyer (Greens/EFA, Germany) recently. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)