The Czech Minister of the Interior, Vít Rakušan, presented the priorities of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU to the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties on Monday 5 September, stressing the context of the war in Ukraine and of the ongoing efforts needed to help Ukrainian refugees.
Although the exchange with the MEPs was courteous, the minister did not give them any precise details on how the Presidency intends to move forward on certain key files, such as the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’.
Following on from the work of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Minister nevertheless promised to do everything possible to make progress on the legislative texts of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, welcoming in particular the roadmap negotiated with the European Parliament before the summer (see EUROPE 12998/10), which provides that the two parties will commit to adopting all the texts of the Pact “before the end of the mandate”, said the minister.
The Czech Presidency will also have to “give substance” to the declaration of solidarity approved in June by the interior ministers “to help frontline countries under pressure”, while the volunteer countries are still in the process of implementing the first relocations of migrants rescued at sea from Italy.
However, the minister did not specify how the files will progress at EU Council level, thus not responding to the concern of some MEPs, such as Dutch MEP Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA), who pointed to the poor progress in the EU Council on the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR).
Another priority for the minister is to try to reach an agreement on the regulation on the prevention of online child pornography “before the end of the Presidency”. The minister said he was reassured by the good reception given to the text in Prague in July by his counterparts, who had said they were ready to move forward on this regulation, despite the fact that it had been criticised by digital rights associations.
The minister would also like to launch the first trilogues under his Presidency on strengthening police cooperation (the EU Council adopted several mandates in June, such as on the ‘Prüm’ directive: editor’s note) and on the Schengen Borders Code “as soon as the European Parliament has adopted its position”.
The Czech Presidency’s major ambition will also be to bring Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia into the Schengen area this year. In addition, it will try to launch the new Schengen Information System “in November”, which will usher in the new era of interoperability of European information systems.
Questioned by Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers (ECR), the minister also indicated that he had asked the Commission to work on a possible modification of the rules governing funding to associations, in particular those suspected of being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. “We are waiting for the Commission’s response”, said the minister. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)