Urgent Justice and Home Affairs Council Friday

On 15 November, the European Commission made a joint declaration announcing an extraordinary meeting of Justice and Home Affairs ministers for Friday (20 November). The announcement was made by European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, and Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider, representing the Luxembourgish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

In response to the Paris attacks, the ministers and commissioner say that European citizens require a rapid, concrete and efficient response from the European Union. The meeting will focus on three areas: EU wide rules on Passenger Name Records (PNR), firearms security and the reinforcement of controls at external borders.

In July the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee adopted a revised text on PNR by 32 votes to 27. MEPs wanted safeguards included in the text that ensured that the data should only be used for tackling terrorism and serious international crime. The revised Directive, which had already gone for further discussion, will now be fast tracked. It should be noted that the original Data Retention Directive, enacted after the Madrid bombings, was annulled in 2014 as blanket retention data of unsuspicious persons generally violates the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Before the legislation was annulled, both Germany and Belgium were taken to the EU’s Court of Justice for failing to implement the legislation; it is likely that both countries will be able to support a more circumscribed proposal.

On firearms, the EU’s Council has already placed a particular emphasis on the serious threat posed to the internal security of the European Union by illegal firearms. Following the Charlie Hebdo attack and the attack on a Thalys train in August, member states called on all countries to fully participate in and implement the requirements of the EU’s agreed ‘Operational Action Plan on Firearms’. There was also an additional emphasis on the external dimension of trafficking with neighbouring countries and an additional call for full implementation of the ‘Action Plan on illicit trafficking in firearms between the EU and the South East Europe Region’. The Commission has already called for a revision of the directive setting out certain minimum conditions for the circulation of civil firearms inside the European Union (EU) territory by 2016, this initiative is likely to be brought forward. A particular emphasis is likely to be placed on the trade of arms via the ‘darknet’.

Finally, the Council is likely to call on more support and more financing in the control of the EU’s external borders. The influx of refugees from Syria has pushed public administrations to the limits of their capabilities. The ebb of refugees is not expected to abate with the increased bombing in Raqqa and other Daesh strongholds. With no end game in sight, the civil population will have little choice but to continue to seek asylum in a Europe that already feels under siege. The challenge that leaders face in calling for solidarity, tolerance and understanding of the plight of this group has never been more politically explosive.

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