European Union home affairs ministers will meet in Brussels on Thursday 12 December to formalise the full accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area on 1 January, but also to discuss the migration situation and the delicate issue of processing asylum applications from Syrian nationals and the return of Syrian refugees to their country of origin following the upheaval in the country.
In terms of decisions, they will adopt the strategic guidelines for future European policies on Justice and Home Affairs as planned, but they are likely to maintain a blocking minority on the so-called ‘CSAM’ dossier, i.e. the European regulation on the removal of child sexual abuse material online.
On Friday, EU justice ministers will adopt a political agreement (general approach) on the fight against migrant smuggling and smuggling networks (see EUROPE 13533/17). Presented by the former Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, this dossier will be approved in the ‘Justice’ stream, where the text aims to harmonise the definition of the crime of trafficking and the criminal law responses to it.
Syria and migration situation in the EU. The upheaval in Syria and its impact both on the situation of Syrian refugees in the EU (over 1 million, including almost 800,000 in Germany) and on potential new migratory flows to the EU will be discussed at lunchtime on Thursday, at a lunch devoted to the migration situation in the EU. According to a diplomatic source, however, there should be no expectation of “any kind of result or very concrete decision two days after” the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “It will still be far too early to say what might happen”, they said.
At this stage, Member States are likely to reiterate the decisions they have already taken, i.e. to suspend the processing of asylum applications and even the returns already planned to Syria.
In the case of Sweden, for example, a number of refugees have already been sent back to Syria, but this has always been on a voluntary basis. To date, Member States have not been able to carry out any involuntary returns to this country.
At this lunch, EU27 ministers will also once again address the issue of ‘innovative solutions’ to manage illegal immigration and will return to the concept of ‘return hubs’, focusing on the cooperation needed with third countries to make this type of system work.
There will also be a progress report on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, while Member States due to submit their national implementation plans this week. The discussion will also cover the wish of certain Member States to anticipate the application of certain texts, for example the regulation on border procedures, but this point is expected to be kept brief.
The Commission has said that it is open to studying the feasibility of implementing the texts of the ‘Pact’ before the official date of entry into force in June 2026, but wants to preserve the balance of the reform.
Schengen. Ministers are not expected to have an in-depth discussion on the enlargement of the Schengen area to include Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January 2025. Adopted in the form of an ‘A point’, this decision will mean that the last controls at the land borders with these two countries will be lifted at this time. Austria lifted its veto in November at a meeting in Budapest (see EUROPE 13533/16), but temporary controls will be put in place for a period of six months at certain sections of the borders between these two countries, as well as between Hungary and Romania, to manage any influx of migrants.
More generally, they will also take stock of the state of health of the Schengen area on the basis of Frontex data.
External border security. EU ministers will hold an exchange of views on the interoperability of European information systems, the implementation of which will be postponed once again and may not be operational until 2027. The aim is to connect all the EU’s internal security databases (Schengen Information System, Eurodac, Entry/Exit System (EES), VIS, etc.) and provide European police forces with instant access to these databases.
The entry into force of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) is an example of the technical backlog accumulated by the EU and its agency eu-Lisa, which is responsible for managing all interoperability. The EES was due to come into force in November 2024, but several member countries have indicated that they are not ready.
‘CSAM’. The Hungarian Presidency intends to give the floor to EU ministers to explain their rejection of the compromise on the table. Already rejected on 6 December (see EUROPE 13540/8), the text is likely to meet the same fate on Thursday. According to one source, it may still be difficult to get it adopted under the Polish Presidency of the EU Council. Poland joined the blocking minority on 6 December and has no intention of giving high priority to this issue, which does not sufficiently protect privacy and the confidentiality of communications, according to its critics.
On Friday 13 December, Justice ministers, for their part, will adopt the criminal law aspects with the ‘CSAM’ directive (see EUROPE 13539/8). Along with several other member countries, Sweden has been critical of the text.
Police access to personal data. Ministers will take note of the report of the High Level Group on access to personal data in police investigations. The Commission is due to present a new strategy on this subject, which is close to the hearts of a number of Member States. Sweden has published a non-paper on internal security, in which it reiterates its support for work on access to data. This High Level Group was launched under its presidency, in early 2023. The Group’s 42 recommendations cover, among other things, the challenges relating to the encryption of communications.
Link to the guidelines: https://aeur.eu/f/er4
Link to the high-level report on access to data: https://aeur.eu/f/eqs
Links to documents from Sweden: https://aeur.eu/f/eqv ; https://aeur.eu/f/eqw
Link to the general guidance on migrant smuggling: https://aeur.eu/f/erh (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)