At the end of September, the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU will attempt to obtain a mandate for the regulation on the removal of child pornography content from the Internet at a formal meeting of EU interior ministers to be held in Brussels.
In October, at another formal Council of Ministers, this time in Luxembourg, it will try to convince Member States to accept the inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria as part of the Schengen area.
These are some of Madrid’s key priorities for the coming months, with the Spanish Presidency also having to ensure that the various trilogues on the texts of the Migration and Asylum Pact progress in accordance with the roadmap signed with the European Parliament; this is in order to complete all the texts by March 2024, particularly the ‘crisis and force majeure’ regulation, for which it has yet to receive a mandate from the Council of the EU.
“The external dimension of migration will be a fundamental priority for the Spanish Presidency, with the fostering of preventive collaboration with the countries of origin and transit by means of tangible political, operational and economic cooperation. In addition, we will seek to maximise the potential of voluntary returns and reintegration, exploring formulas for financial assistance, including Latin America and the Caribbean in the geographical scope of action”, the work programme also states.
The Presidency will continue to seek to consolidate and develop the rights of Ukrainian refugees received in the EU under the temporary protection directive, particularly after the expiry of this protection (in principle, in 2025).
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, detailed some of these priorities on 3 July in Madrid alongside the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (see related article).
Link to the programme and timetable: https://aeur.eu/f/7v4 ; https://aeur.eu/f/7vi (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)