The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council was held in Brussels on 28 February 2008. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, the Solicitor-General for Scotland and I attended on behalf of the United Kingdom. The following issues were discussed at the Council:

The Council opened with a discussion on the proposed move from member state to community financing for Europol. Two of the pre-conditions had already been met (bold posts/rotations/instructions and the question of immunities). Only the issue of budget neutrality remained. A number of member states, including the UK, continued to press for further clarification on the financial implications and maintained their parliamentary scrutiny reservations pending such clarification. The presidency reminded member states that it was one of their priorities to reach agreement on this Council decision by April 2008.

There were still differences between member states on the main issues relating to the returns directive such as re-entry bans, access to judicial review and upper limits on detention. The presidency stated that it was still aiming for a first reading deal by June. The UK has not opted in to this directive.

The presidency stressed the need to conclude ratification on the EU-US agreements on extradition and mutual legal assistance and asked the member states who have not yet completed their domestic and bilateral procedures to do so as soon as possible. The Commission supported this.

During the discussion on the framework decision for combating terrorism, the presidency introduced its proposals for a recital on proportionality and additional text on freedom of expression. The Commission supported this proposal and stressed the need to complete this instrument as soon as possible. The UK welcomed these changes while maintaining the parliamentary scrutiny reserve. The presidency indicated that it wished to reach a general approach at the April Council.

The Commission confirmed that it would shortly adopt its proposal on ship-source pollution, dealing with criminal sanctions to address ship-source pollution.

Under the Mixed Committee, the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) was discussed. The presidency stated that the central SIS roll-out is likely to be delayed. A revised timetable for the delay would be available in April, but it is expected that the central system go-live date will be pushed back from December 2008 to September 2009. The presidency established a SIS II Friends of the Presidency group to ensure ministerial oversight and political commitment to the programme. The group comprises of some those member states who will be migrating from SIS I and SISone4all to SIS II. These include Germany, Portugal, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Norway and Poland. The Commission will submit a revised timetable to the June Council.

The revised rules of procedure allowing for the participation of Liechtenstein in the Schengen Acquis Mixed Committee were passed unanimously.

At the Interior Ministers’ lunch there was a discussion on the US Memoranda of Understandings (MoU) on visa waiver. A moratorium was agreed on further member states signing MoUs until the EU-US troika meeting in March. The High Level Contact Group and SIS II were also mentioned.

At the lunch for Justice Ministers the Commission’s proposal to set up a forum for discussion of EU justice policy and practice was considered. The Commission stressed that the forum would not substitute for the role of other institutions. Discussion focused on who would participate and the extent to which the forum would, in practice, influence the development of policy. There were also exchanges on parliamentary scrutiny reserves maintained by some countries; these were blocking formal agreement to various third pillar measures which would have to be renegotiated if they could not be adopted before the coming into force of the Lisbon treaty.