Another meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) took place in Luxembourg, on 8 June. This meeting was distinctive because it was the last under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the first to bring together EU Home Affairs Ministers in person for over a year.
Ministers reviewed progress on the new EUROPOL regulation and the directive aimed at increasing the resilience of critical entities providing essential services in the EU, and the European Commission greeted the Portuguese Presidency for its excellent work in this area.
The Presidency presented the results achieved on the adoption of the revised Blue Card directive, approval of the new European Civil Protection Mechanism, entry into force of the regulation on the removal of terrorist content online, interministerial agreement on the new Multiannual Financial Framework for Home Affairs and approval of the revision of the visa regulation.
A progress report was made on the negotiation of the legislative proposals of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, highlighting the existence of a good basis for agreement, in political terms, which may lead to the conclusion in the coming weeks of the negotiations on the establishment of the European Union Asylum Agency.
The impact of COVID19 on the fight against crime, in particular the falsification of vaccines and vaccination certificates, was discussed (the exchange of information through secure channels being central to this end), as well as Artificial Intelligence as a tool for internal security, a topic which will certainly be the subject of discussion in the near future, as some Member States advocated the creation of a legislative act specific to the field of internal affairs. The counter-terrorism group also made an update on cooperation between authorities dealing with this matter.
Over lunch, ministers discussed the joint management of migration, including deepening the dialogue with countries of origin and transit of migration flows to the EU. Afterwards, they had an initial discussion on the Schengen strategy, which was adopted by the European Commission on 2 June.
The Commission reported on the state of implementation of interoperability and in particular the establishment of the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which should be operational by the end of 2022, as well as the implementation of the European Border and Coast Guard regulation.
Finally, the Portuguese Presidency reported on developments in the enhanced EU-North Africa dialogue on Justice and Home Affairs and on the EU-US ministerial meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, which will take place in Lisbon, on 22 June.
The session ended with a presentation of Slovenia's priorities for its Presidency, which will begin on 1 July 2021.
For more details, see the press conference and the public session.