Justice and Home Affairs Council, 13-14/10/2016, 13-14 October 2016

Main results

Home Affairs

Migration

On Thursday, Home Affairs ministers discussed the shortfalls in the implementation of the different migration measures adopted so far. They paid particular attention to the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, the situation in Italy and Greece as well as the state of play on relocation, resettlement, and the calls by the agencies for experts.

Ministers took good note of the recommendations proposed by the Presidency and undertook in particular to increase the number of experts provided by member states to the agencies (especially EASO).

"We made a commitment to strengthen EASO by providing additional experts. However, we are at the limits in terms of the right profile of experts available, therefore we need EASO to train our experts so we can send them out. Let me stress that it is not about lack of political will but lack of capacity. We are set to seek ways to improve this situation."

Robert Kaliňák, Minister for the Interior of Slovakia and President of the Council

• Finding solutions to migratory pressures (background information)

Common European Asylum System reform

Ministers endorsed  the three-track approach suggested by the Presidency for the examination of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) reform package during its term:

• focusing on the examination of the Eurodac regulation and on the European Union Agency for Asylum regulation, with the aim of having a negotiating position in the Council in December;
• in parallel, holding discussions on the Dublin regulation and the Asylum Procedures regulation, Reception Conditions directive and Qualification regulation;
• simultaneously, initiating the technical examination of the regulation establishing a Union Resettlement Framework. 

Regarding the Eurodac regulation, Ministers confirmed their support for broader and simplified access by law enforcement authorities to the database. On the European Union Agency for Asylum, some delegations agreed that the monitoring mechanism for the future Agency could be similar to the vulnerability assessment in the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.

Ministers held also a debate on the Union Resettlement Framework regulation and  tasked officials  to continue the examination of this proposal.

IT measures related to border management

The Council took note of the progress on several files regarding information technology (IT) measures related to border management. Ministers had the opportunity to exchange their views on the use of such measures and agreed on the need to ensure a coherent approach.

Justice

On Friday, Justice ministers discussed two legislative proposals closely linked to one another: the creation of a European public prosecutor and the directive on the fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests. Both texts aim at combatting more effectively, by mean of criminal law, cases of fraud to Union's budget.

Fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests ("PIF" directive)

"Majority of Member States are in favour of prosecuting serious cross-border VAT fraud at the EU level, on the basis of the PIF directive. The presidency is now set to translate today's outcomes into further technical work."

Lucia Žitňanská, Minister for Justice of Slovakia and President of the Council

The aim of the Slovak presidency is to revive trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament with the view of finding a final agreement.

The objective of this directive is to make criminal law enforcement more effective in cases involving the EU's budget so to deter fraudsters, improve the prosecution and sanctioning of crimes against the EU budget, and facilitate the recovery of misused EU funds.

European Public Prosecutor's Office

The Council reached a provisional agreement on the last set of articles of the regulation which had not been concluded during the previous Presidencies. Those remaining articles relate to the rules on judicial review, the cooperation with third countries and with non-participating member states, and the relations with Eurojust.

For the first time, the Ministers discussed the text of the EPPO regulation in its entirety from the perspective of efficiency and independence, in particular. According to Minister Žitňanská, the debate was "positive", as the Presidency had received the political mandate to continue negotiations with the view of finding a definitive agreement at the December Council.

"The establishment of the EPPO would constitute an important political development, as it would be a new EU body designed to help protect financial interests of the EU in the criminal law area."

 Lucia Žitňanská, Minister for Justice of Slovakia and President of the Council

The regulation aims at creating a European Public Prosecutor's Office to combat more effectively crimes against the EU's financial interests, in particular those with a cross-border dimension.

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