EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach)
The Justice and Home Affairs Council is due to be held on 27 and 28 November 2008 in Brussels. My right honourable friend the Home Secretary (Jacqui Smith), the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Kenny MacAskill) and I intend to attend on behalf of the United Kingdom. As the provisional agenda stands, the following items will be discussed.

The council will concentrate on interior and justice issues.  The first day of the council will focus on interior items, starting with the Mixed Committee also attended by Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. During the Mixed Committee, Switzerland’s accession to Schengen will be discussed. The UK supports Swiss accession into the Schengen area. There will also be a presentation by the presidency on the second generation Schengen information system (SIS II) in order to update member states on progress.

At the council meeting, Gilles de Kerchove, the counterterrorism co-ordinator, will present his six-monthly report and discussion paper. The UK welcomes the report and de Kerchove's work, in particular his objectives on radicalisation and recruitment, communications, an EU strategy on data sharing, action on and funding for Pakistan, and efforts to work with Turkey on the PKK. 

The council will be asked to approve council conclusions on a cybercrime strategy. These conclusions propose that the EU should work collectively to tackle cybercrime, and set out a number of actions that might be useful in achieving this.  The proposals envisage that the EU member states should strengthen partnerships between government and private sectors, and between law enforcement agencies within the EU.

The council will be asked to approve the presidency’s report on progress with the EU PNR framework decision and provide a clear mandate for negotiations to continue under the Czech presidency.  The UK will support this mandate and believes future negotiations should build on the successful work of the French presidency.

The presidency will ask the council to endorse draft conclusions aimed at strengthening law enforcement action against drugs trafficking in west Africa. We fully support this initiative and will aim to ensure UK objectives are reflected in the council conclusions.

On civil protection, the presidency will report on the work on European civil protection to be undertaken during the Czech and Swedish presidencies. Draft council conclusions on European disaster management training will be discussed, which include proposals for arrangements to link training centres in a network. The UK welcomes such a proposal, which could help to enhance co-operation and the exchange of good practice across all aspects of disaster management.  Draft council conclusions on the strengthening of civil protection capabilities through a system of mutual assistance will also be discussed.  These call for voluntary measures to improve co-operation in disaster response, which could enable more rapid and effective mutual assistance to be made available through the civil protection mechanism. The UK also welcomes this.

The presidency will report on the discussions held at the annual Western Balkans Ministerial Forum in Zagreb on 6 to 7 November.  This forum aims to promote dialogue and regional co-operation in justice and home affairs matters, particularly combating organised crime and organised immigration crime.  The UK sent two officials as observers.

Regarding migration, the presidency will brief on the outcomes of the second Euro-African conference on migration and development to be held in Paris on 25 November. The draft council conclusions on the comprehensive approach to migration will be discussed. The UK is pleased that the global approach to migration, initiated by the UK presidency in 2005, remains the basis for the EU’s work on migration with third countries. The UK believes that these conclusions also help ensure that we collectively understand and have put in place measures to tackle the challenges to delivery of improved partnerships with source and transit countries.

The council will be asked to endorse the final conclusions of the Vichy ministerial conference on integration held on 3 and 4 November. The UK can agree with the document as it stands. 

The presidency will update the council on negotiations on a council directive that provides for a single application procedure for third-country nationals seeking to reside and work in a member state and for a common set of rights. The UK is not opting in to the proposed directive.

The presidency is looking to agree the proposal for amending council directive 2003/109/EC, which currently allows third-country nationals the right to long-term residence in a member state after five years of legal and continuous residence and permits them to have the same rights and duties as nationals. The Commission proposal would extend the scope of the directive to refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, known as humanitarian protection in the UK.  The UK has chosen not to opt in to the proposed extension of the directive because, as with the original directive, the UK believes it is not in line with its frontiers protocol and would want to determine the status of third-country nationals via the Immigration Rules.

The council will discuss the proposal to amend the regulation on common consular instructions on visas which relates to the issuing of Schengen visas into a single code on visas. It aims to fill gaps in existing legislation and remove redundant provisions. The UK does not issue Schengen visas and therefore is not opted-in to this proposal. However, we welcome the efforts of Schengen member states to ensure that the Schengen external EU borders are as secure as possible.

The proposal to amend council regulation No. 2252/2004, establishing common standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents, will also be discussed. Member states wish to exclude children under the age of six and persons who are physically unable to give fingerprints for travel documents. The amendment also hopes to establish the principle of one person-one passport as a measure to prevent child trafficking. The UK is not opted-in but intends to keep abreast with any amendments. The UK does not support the exemption of persons under the age of six, but would prefer the bar to be set at 11: this would fit with our plans for synchronising the issuing of e-passports and ID cards. Children’s passports would have a five-year validity and all passport holders aged 16 and over will have their fingerprints recorded. The UK introduced the one person-one passport principle in 1998.

The European Commission will present the initial findings of the fact-finding mission to Syria and Jordan to investigate the Iraqi refugee situation.

The council will discuss issues relating to the application of the directive on free movement. The UK will call for a common approach to addressing false marriages, illegal immigration and expulsion of those who abuse free movement rights. This will build on the discussion on the European Court of Justice Metock judgment held at the JHA Council of 25 September, and will feed into preparation of the Commission’s review of the implementation of the directive on free movement, due to be published by the end of the year.

The presidency will seek a general approach to the proposed decision amending the existing arrangements for the European judicial network in civil and commercial matters.  This proposal has been considerably modified in line with UK objectives and we can now support it. 

It will also ask the council to agree to conclusions concerning the common frame of reference in contract law. The Government are broadly in favour of the council conclusions.

The council will be asked to agree a plan of action covering co-operation in the field of e-justice.  We can support this initiative.

Agreement will also be sought to the setting up of a network for legislative co-operation among the Ministries of Justice of the member states.  This modest, non-legislative measure is designed to facilitate contacts among justice ministries and promote exchange of information about initiatives in the different member states.  The Government can support it.

The presidency will seek a general approach towards the proposed framework decision setting up a European supervision order, allowing, in effect, for the mutual recognition of bail conditions.  This will allow for a person who is resident in one member state, but the subject of criminal proceedings in another, to have their bail conditions monitored in their member state of residence.  No such system exists at present, with the effect some individuals are released pre-trial without supervision.  The Government have been concerned to ensure that the proposal struck the right balance between public protection and the liberty of the individual, and provided the executing state with sufficient options to act in the public interest in the event of breach of bail conditions or the commission of further offences.  The Government welcome the improvements to the text that have been achieved in the course of negotiations and, subject to any further changes to the text before the council, expect to be in a position to agree to the proposal.

The council will be asked to agree the draft conclusions on child alerts, which invite member states to introduce and develop national mechanisms for alerting the general public in the event of a presumed abduction of a child whose safety is seriously compromised. The UK is happy to agree the draft conclusions.

There is a substantial list of “A” points—issues on which agreement in principle has been reached already but are before the council for formal adoption without discussion.  These will include:

a draft decision authorising the Commission to negotiate with Georgia a readmission agreement between the European Community and Georgia;
 

council decisions on Eurojust and the European judicial network in criminal matters;
 

the framework decision on data protection; and
 

the framework decision on the transfer of prisoners.