On Wednesday 19 March, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) organised a hearing devoted to presenting the 2024 activity report of the ‘Justice and Home Affairs Agencies Network’ (JHAAN), as well as the 2025 work programme of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which currently holds the network’s rotating presidency and presented its priorities for the current year.
The JHAAN brings together nine agencies, under the aegis of the European Commission’s Directorates-General for Home Affairs and Justice, responsible for a range of issues such as migration (EUAA), the fight against organised crime (Europol), managing external borders (Frontex) and protecting fundamental rights (FRA). Since 2010, these agencies have held the presidency of the network for a period of one year in order to organise activities and coordinate common priorities.
Ave Poom, Senior Policy Officer in the Business and Stakeholder Relations Unit at eu-LISA – the European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice – opened the hearing by presenting the activity report.
Four of the network’s priorities were outlined: digitisation and innovation, security and resilience, social responsibility and support for the new European commissioners.
FRA Director Sirpa Rautio then detailed the 2025 work programme.
“Our priorities are those of the EU, and they take into account the volatility of the world in which we find ourselves at the moment”, she stressed, before going on to talk about efforts to integrate the defence of fundamental rights into security debates, particularly in relation to surveillance and access to data.
In addition, the agency’s director said that FRA should deepen its work on artificial intelligence.
“Right from the start of my term of office, I set up an AI working group to (...) combine AI and the defence of fundamental rights”, she declared.
A workshop will be organised on this subject, although “we’re not sure we’ll be making any recommendations”, added Sirpa Rautio.
During discussions with MEPs, the question of financial resources was raised.
Saskia Bricmont (Greens/EFA, Belgian) expressed her concern about “the trend towards legislation and decisions (...) that no longer have fundamental rights as their compass” and asked FRA about its budget.
Sirpa Rautio confirmed that the agency “actually has 33 new tasks, even though we have no additional budget”.
Border controls and the balance between security and respect for fundamental rights were also raised as issues.
Estonian MEP Marina Kaljurand (S&D) asked how to “find the balance” between protecting borders and respecting humanitarian obligations.
Sirpa Rautio pointed out that “border protection must guarantee the protection of fundamental freedoms”.
She also called for the necessary independent monitoring of fundamental rights at borders, on which FRA continues to work with the European Commission and other stakeholders. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)