Eduardo Cabrita met with Slovenian Interior Minister Aleš HOJS, on the sidelines of the Ministerial Conference on the Management of Migration Flows that took place on 11 May. The meeting was of great importance for the continuing work of the Council of the European Union, of which Slovenia takes over the Presidency on 1 July 2021.
Both ministers took stock of the work carried out so far by the Portuguese Presidency in the area of Home Affairs and looked ahead to the dossiers that will continue under the Slovenian Presidency, namely in the framework of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, Police Cooperation and Internal Security and the dialogue with third countries on Justice and Home Affairs.
The Portuguese Presidency has striven for solutions to ensure a proper balance between Solidarity and Responsibility, by making significant progress in the negotiations on the recast of the Blue Card Directive and the Regulation establishing the EU Agency for Asylum. The Portuguese Presidency has also undertaken efforts in order to achieve the recast the Europol Regulation, promoted the debate on the Directive on critical infrastructures resilience and accompanied the work of the Commission aimed at revising the Schengen evaluation and monitoring mechanism. Promoting dialogue and deepening partnerships with countries of origin and transit has been a constant of the PPEU and, with great relevance to Slovenia, furthermore the meeting to be held on 17 May, EU-Western Balkans Senior Officials, is noteworthy, taking in consideration that the ministerial meeting will take place during the incoming Presidency.