On Monday 13 October, the European justice ministers will meet in Luxembourg for an EU Council meeting devoted to the Rule of law, the judicial response to crimes committed in the context of the war in Ukraine and the future of the European Agency for Judicial Cooperation, Eurojust.
Rule of law. An initial exchange of views will focus on the development of the Rule of law in the field of justice, in particular “political participation, seen as a cornerstone of respect for the Rule of law”. The European ministers are expected to share their national experiences in protecting political actors and combating disinformation and hate speech online.
War in Ukraine. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is once again on the agenda, as it has been since it began.
An update on ongoing efforts to combat impunity for crimes committed in the context of the conflict will be presented, in particular through the work of the Joint Investigation Team, the Core International Crimes Evidence Database (CICED) (see EUROPE 13445/21) and the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) (see EUROPE 13214/10), hosted by Eurojust.
Eurojust. Another discussion will focus on the future of the agency based in The Hague, which was evaluated by the European Commission last July (https://aeur.eu/f/iv4 ).
The ministers will be asked to express their views on the areas for improvement and to provide political guidance to the Commission, which is preparing an impact assessment with a view to a possible revision of the Eurojust Regulation.
Legal access to data. The issue of legal access to data will also be addressed. The Commission will take stock of its work on a possible new European initiative on data retention, a particularly sensitive issue since the invalidation of the Data Retention Directive by the Court of Justice of the EU in 2014.
Miscellaneous items. France has also requested that the ‘European Democracy Shield’ initiative, presented in December 2023, be placed on the agenda, and the Commission will present its annual report on the simplification and implementation of EU law. Slovenia will also come back on the issue of US sanctions against certain international judicial and human rights officials, and Slovakia will inform its partners of its reaction to the Rule of Law 2025 report. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)