The justice ministers of the EU27 will meet in Stockholm on 26-27 January for the first informal meeting of the six-month Swedish Presidency of the EU Council.
Their agenda reflects the Swedes’ number one priority - support for Ukraine - as they will address the subject of prosecution of international criminals. The Ukrainian Minister of Justice, Denis Malyuska, will join the meeting remotely, to give a presentation to his counterparts. The ministers will also be joined on-site by a representative of Eurojust, who will report on the ongoing work, as well as by the Swedish Prosecutor General and a war crimes prosecutor.
The aim will be to exchange best practices in terms of prosecuting international crimes, according to a European official. He added that the question of a special court to judge the crime of aggression is not on the agenda, but this does not mean that the subject will not be raised at all by the ministers.
Fight against organised crime
The other issue that will occupy not only the justice ministers but also the interior ministers the day before in Stockholm is the fight against organised online crime.
The ministers want to discuss the challenges faced by judicial authorities in gathering evidence relating to organised crime in the digital age.
Again, a representative of Eurojust will be present, above all to present a concrete case study on the subject.
Participants will be asked to give their views and have a “wide-ranging discussion” on the transfer of judicial proceedings between Member States, as the European Commission plans to present an initiative for rules in this area on 5 April. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)