The consequences of the war in Ukraine will once again be high on the agenda of the EU Justice Ministers, who are meeting in Prague on Tuesday 12 July for an informal meeting.
Ministers will again discuss the collection and storage of evidence on war crimes committed in Ukraine, in the presence of Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan and Ukrainian Minister of Justice Denis Malyuska.
In May, the EU already took a step towards facilitating war crimes investigations with the adoption of the revised mandate for Eurojust (see EUROPE 12959/3). This regulation which recently entered into force enables the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes.
According to two sources, the discussion between the ministers will be rather operational. The aim is to understand how States are dealing with this issue by sharing different experiences, to see what the obstacles are, what support can still be provided and how coordination can be strengthened.
Another issue influenced by the war in Ukraine is the protection of vulnerable persons in civil matters. The aim is to discuss the case of people who are unable to assert their rights due to various difficulties. Ukrainian refugees are considered to fall into this category as access to justice is more difficult for them.
The third topic on the agenda is the digitalisation of judicial cooperation with third countries. It is not unrelated to the war, as a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been set up between several European countries and Ukraine (see EUROPE 12962/6). In this regard, the EU Council adopted a general approach to create a digital collaboration platform for participants in these Joint Investigation Teams (see EUROPE 12968/9).
The ministers’ discussions should go beyond the justice modernisation package presented by the European Commission in December 2021 (see EUROPE 12981/6), as this does not include cooperation with third countries. The use of this instrument to cooperate with third countries could be raised and considered for the future, according to an EU diplomat.
Finally, the EU27 ministers will discuss the protection of victims’ rights in the EU. The aim will be to assess whether the current system, which is governed by several pieces of legislation, is effective and protective enough. The European Commission indicated on 28 June that it plans to revise the directive on victims’ rights in 2023 (see EUROPE 12981/15). (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)