Conclusions of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg
On 9 and 10 June 2011, the Justice and Home Affairs of the Council of the European Union took place in Luxembourg. On the agenda of the home affairs ministers stood, amongst others, amendments on FRONTEX-rules and the Schengen evaluation of Bulgaria and Romania.
The Council intends a revision of the rules concerning the European external borders agency FRONTEX and is at the moment in negotiations about this issue with the European Parliament. At the Council-meeting in Luxembourg, the ministers discussed still open questions like the secondment of national border guards to the FRONTEX Joint Support Teams, the monitoring of return operations and the establishment of a common pool of border guards for joint operations and intervention missions (so called Rabit-missions). The Council envisages an agreement with the European Parliament in the end of June.
Concerning the Schengen evaluation of Bulgaria and Romania, the Council stated that the evaluation process has been finalized and that the Council will return to the issue as soon as possible, but not later than September 2011.
On the legislative package that aims to establish a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) by 2012, the Council had a first exchange of views on two revised Commission proposals. They concern the procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection (11207/11) as well as the reception conditions for asylum seekers (11214/11). The Commission tabled these proposals on 1 June 2011.
Both proposals amend existing directives. Amendments were initially tabled in October 2009 and December 2008, respectively. However, no agreement on the texts could be reached. As a consequence, the Commission decided to submit revised proposals to take account of the positions expressed by member states in the Council and by the European Parliament.
On legal migration, ministers examined the state of play of three dossiers which form part of EU plans to develop a comprehensive immigration policy.
Two proposals for directives concern conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals:
– in the framework of an intra-corporate transfers (12210/10) and
– for the purposes of seasonal employment (12208/10).
On both files, negotiations with the European Parliament have not yet started.