The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council was held in Luxembourg on 18 April 2008. My right honourable friend the Minister for State for the Home Office (Tony McNulty), my right honourable friend the Attorney-General (Baroness Scotland) and the Lord Advocate for Scotland (Elish Anglioni) attended on behalf of the United Kingdom. The following issues were discussed at the council.

The council opened with the Mixed Committee with Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein.  The presidency presented a progress report and document outlining outstanding issues on the implementation of the second generation of the Schengen information system (SIS II).  The presidency also reported on its discussions with the European Parliament on the returns directive.   The UK has not opted in to this directive.

The main council agenda began with a brief discussion on Western Balkan visa arrangements, where the Commission circulated a letter urging Ministers to reduce bureaucracy for Western Balkan-country visa applicants.

A political agreement was reached on the Europol council decision, during which the UK congratulated all three presidencies that had taken forward the negotiations, noted the previous UK parliamentary concern on budget neutrality and other issues, and lifted the UK reserve.

The action plan on explosives was adopted. The Commission welcomed the efforts made, and said that it would make funding available to implement it. The UK welcomed the presidency's work on the action plan. The UK, however, indicated concern about ongoing discussions in another part of the council on the level of ammonium nitrate in fertiliser, which we had experience of being an effective explosive precursor. The UK proposed that the Article 36 director-level committee should discuss these serious security concerns. Interior Ministers needed to take control of the issue, though we recognised the need to balance this with agricultural interests. A number of member states strongly supported the UK and France highlighted its presidency plans to take concrete action in the field.

On the directive on long-term residence for beneficiaries of international protection, the Commission and various member states supported a call by the presidency for a compromise in order to reach consensus. The presidency said it would prepare work for further discussion.  The UK is not opted in to this measure.

The presidency reported on the US visa waiver discussions. The council agreed a negotiating mandate for the Commission to pursue discussion with the US on visa waiver arrangements.

Greece addressed recent criticisms of its application of Community law on asylum, admitting that there had been delays in implementing EU legislation but stating that by June 2008 it will have met all its obligations. Greece argued that it was not practically possible for it to examine all the applications it received in the way that some other member states did as there were simply too many. The Commission thanked Greece for its recent efforts but asserted that the Commission would continue to uphold Community law.

The council reached a general approach on the framework decision on counterterrorism, pending parliamentary scrutiny opinions and the views of the European Parliament.  The Commission welcomed the package the presidency had put forward and the speed at which progress had been made. The UK thanked the Commission for its proposal and the presidency for its hard work and welcomed the compromise package. The UK said that it had a parliamentary scrutiny reservation in place, but was in a position to participate in a general approach. Most member states intervened to thank the presidency for its hard work and welcomed the compromise proposal, which was felt to represent a well balanced package.

The presidency sought views on the text of the draft framework decision on trials in absentia. There was strong support from almost all delegations and calls not to delay agreement. The UK noted that the text offered higher safeguards than the original proposal.  However, three member states still had difficulties and were not in a position to agree the instrument. The presidency concluded that some issues remained outstanding and referred those issues to COREPER ambassadors for resolution, with a view to agreement at the June JHA Council.

The presidency asked the council to endorse a package of articles in the draft council decision on Eurojust concerning the composition of Eurojust, access to databases by national members, staff regulations, voting in the Eurojust College, and mediation in relation to conflicts of jurisdiction. The UK maintained its substantive reservation on Article 7, concerning mediation in relation to conflicts of jurisdiction, and its parliamentary reservation on the entire text. All other substantive reserves were lifted. The presidency concluded that further issues would be put to the June JHA Council for agreement.

The presidency presented council conclusions on a future common frame of reference (CFR) for European contract law. It stressed that the adoption of a council position did not pre-empt future discussions on the CFR. The Commission welcomed the presidency paper and confirmed that it would be consulting academics and stakeholders. It plans to publish an impact assessment, followed by a White Paper, probably in 2009. France announced that it would hold a conference on the CFR under its presidency. The UK (Lord Advocate) supported the council position as drafted. She stated that there was no appetite for a binding instrument and that the UK would strongly oppose any move towards harmonisation. The presidency said that the CFR conclusions would go to the European Council in June as an information point, and would similarly be sent to the European Parliament. 

Under AOB, the presidency reported on progress on the bilateral instruments implementing the EU-US agreements on mutual legal assistance and extradition and called on those member states that had still not completed their procedures to do so as quickly as possible. The Commission reported on the recent hearing on crimes committed by totalitarian regimes.

Over lunch delegations were asked for their views on the desirability of the draft directive on the European programme for critical infrastructure protection (EPCIP). The UK did not see the added value in the draft directive, and argued for a non-binding, non-legislative alternative. Other member states agreed but some were more interested in the content than form of the proposals. A compromise was suggested of limiting the scope of the directive.

The Netherlands reported on its recent resettlement mission to Thailand with Belgium and Luxembourg in the wake of the letter the resettlement countries (including UK) had sent to the JHA Council in January; Italy lobbied the council for Luca Riccardi to become the EU candidate for director-general of the International Organisation for Migration; and Germany proposed the EU take an initiative to resettle refugees from Iraq.