Brussels, 12/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Internal Affairs Council will meet in Luxembourg on 13 June, chaired by Mariano Rajoy Brey, mainly to deal with the fight against illegal immigration and the criteria for determining which Member state is responsible for examining a request for asylum. On the fringe of the Council, the Joint Committee with Iceland and Norway will meet at ministerial level, so as, notably, to discuss the negotiating briefs with Switzerland on implementation of the Schengen/Dublin acquis. The Commission will be represented by Antonio Vitorino. The Justice Council (see EUROPE of 10/11 June, p.10) will then meet.
Regarding the fight against illegal immigration and against the trafficking in human beings, the Council: a) will take note of a Presidency report on progress made in these fields. The President will tell them of work in the different JHA Councils that have been held in the first half of 2002, the Conference of Valencia and the informal meeting of the Council in Saint-Jacques de Compostelle (see EUROPE of 16 February, p. 7); b) should adopt conclusions on measures to implement to prevent and combat illegal immigration, contraband and the trafficking in human beings by sea, and more especially on measures to apply against third countries which refuse to co-operate with the EU in the fight against this scourge. The draft conclusions cover: - the need for an EU integrated approach in using all instruments at its disposal in the framework of its external relations; - operational measures that need taking by the EU and Member states to tighten external sea borders; - preventative measures that could be adopted by the countries of origin, destination and transit; c) take note of a Presidency report on suggestions aimed at strengthening and guaranteeing an integrated management of the control of the EU's external borders. This report will be submitted to the Summit of Seville.
Furthermore, in the field of asylum policy, the Council will notably be called on to debate, on the basis of a note by the Presidency, the question of the responsibility of Member states in the case of irregular entry onto their territory, as well as the criteria for determining the state responsible for examining a request for asylum (see EUROPE of 28 July 2001, p.9). On this second issue, ministers will focus their debate on the following questions: 1) the responsibility of the Member state whose borders an asylum-seeker crossed to enter the EU; 2) the responsibility of the Member state in which the asylum-seeker has resided for a certain length of time; 3) whether or not to maintain the order of the criteria provided for by the Dublin Convention to determine the Member state responsible for examining the request; 4) whether or not to provide for certain exceptions in relation to this order of criteria; 5) the duration of the different time-scales provided for in the proposal concerning the taking in charge or taking back in charge of asylum-seekers by Member states. You may recall that in compliance with Article 3 of the Protocol on the stance of the United Kingdom and Ireland annexed to the EU Treaty and the Treaty setting up the EC, these two countries notified, by letter on 30 October 2001, their desire to participate in the adoption of this proposal. As for Denmark, it is not participating in the adoption of this proposal in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on Denmark's stance annexed to the Treaties.
Finally, the Presidency will brief the Council on work on violence against women undertaken at the Ministerial Conference of Saint Jacques de Compostelle in February. On that occasion, participants are said to have stressed that it was a question of a generalised and persistent phenomenon, that occurs in all social circles, despite national and international legislation in favour of equality.
Joint Committee with Iceland and Norway: negotiating brief with Switzerland
over implementing the Schengen/Dublin acquis
Thursday afternoon, the Joint Committee with Iceland and Norway will meet at ministerial level to deal with: 1) Council decisions authorising the opening of negotiations aimed at associating Switzerland in the application of the "Schengen acquis" and the "Dublin and Eurodac acquis", as well as their future developments; 2) amending Article 40 of the Schengen Convention concerning cross-border observation (surveillance of people crossing a border) and broadening its application in view of increasing the success of judicial enquiries, notably regarding organised crime. The Joint Committee should also adopt conclusions on the new requirements of the Schengen Information System (SIS), evaluate the implementation of the Schengen acquis in France and examine the question of the integrated management of external borders.