Justice and Home Affairs Council, 18/11/2016, 18 November 2016

Main results

ETIAS

The Commission presented its recent proposal on the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which will allow for advance checks and, if necessary, deny entry to visa-exempt travellers. 

Ministers considered that the system proposed is, in principle, an appropriate tool for closing the information gap on visa exempt visitors and will therefore strengthen  the EU's security and border management policy. They tasked experts to start examining the proposal.

As ETIAS features on our Presidency´s priority list, the experts will start working on this very important file already later this month and the remaining weeks in December. It is helpful that the EU can also draw on the positive experiences in the United States and Canada.

Robert Kaliňák, Slovak interior minister and President of the Council

Exchange of information and interoperability 

The Council took note of progress in implementing a roadmap to improve  information exchange and information management, including interoperability solutions in the Justice and Home Affairs area. 

Ministers were briefed on the work of the High Level Expert Group on Information Systems and Interoperability (HLEG). They  discussed the improvements and additional functionalities that the Schengen Information System (SIS) could offer.

Investing in swift, effective and qualitative information exchange and information management and ensuring the interoperability of EU databases and information systems is an important way to  address current security challenges.

Exchange of information and interoperability is a key pillar - alpha and omega - of an effective fight against terrorism and organised crime. We're talking about providing relevant data to relevant databases, the quality of data, their processing and access to it - every single article of the chain must work. Otherwise, it does have its consequences. Mutual trust between member states and the European agencies is also a key ingredient. 

Robert Kaliňák, Slovak interior minister and President of the Council

Fight against terrorism  

The Council took note of the report of the EU Counter-terrorism coordinator on the implementation of measures on counterterrorism.

The report presents the overall state of play, covering progress on all the measures since the European Council on 12 February 2015. It  also includes a set of recommendations for future action.

• EU fight against terrorism (background information)