| 15-16 January 2009 The Informal Meeting of Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs was spread over two days, one for each thematic area. On 15 January, the Interior Ministers met to discuss, among other things, the use of modern technologies for security purposes and safe use of modern technologies. The first part of the Meeting was dedicated to home. Apart from Interior Ministers of the Member States, the representatives of the following countries also took part in the meeting in the Prague Congress Centre: Switzerland, Norway, Island, Lichtenstein, Croatia, FYROM and Turkey. Minister of the Interior of the Czech Republic Ivan Langer proposed several principal topics for discussion to his counterparts. At first, the Ministers addressed the topic of modern technologies and security, including the issue of information exchange and its impact on security, mobility and privacy, including protection of personal information. The Ministers have agreed that this rapidly developing area demands particular attention, unified system access on the EU level and long term efforts. They also agreed that all steps need to be commenced by analysis of the present state of modern technology use, particularly in the area of information exchange, and that the obtained results need to be projected into the preparations of the new plan for the domain of justice and home affairs for the years 2010 – 2014. The Ministers addressed the topic of modern technologies also in their next discussion. However, this time they focused on their utilization in the area of border protection, and control of migration and asylum policy. In this discussion the Ministers expressed their opinions on the fundamental import of introduction of biometric elements to travel documents, with respect to outside border crossing. Within this discussion the Ministers also addressed the highly relevant topic of illegal migration and they agreed that a truly complex migration policy demands maximum utilization of all available information and its consideration while applying practical measures that focus not only on the fight with the phenomenon of illegal migration. During a work lunch Minister of the Interior Ivan Langer presented another significant issue – the improvement of international protection of children. The Czech Presidency introduced its initiative, the creation of a website for systems of prompt warning during search for missing children, which was supported by the present Member States. The Ministers also agreed that the use of the Schengen information system for the search for missing children should be improved and that police cooperation in fighting illegal internet contents and crimes committed on children via the internet should intensify. At the afternoon part of the meeting the Ministers discussed the issue of development of the second-generation Schengen information system that is presently facing problems and delays that make it impossible to keep the expected deadline for its launch in September 2009. The Schengen information system is one of the most important tools of cooperation for states that have cancelled internal border checks and the Czech Presidency feels that its modernization and inclusion of new functions is a key issue and it pledges to exhort maximum effort for elimination of its extant problems. In the last discussion of the day the Ministers addressed another fundamental topic of our time that is undoubtedly the issue of drugs and fight against drug abuse. The Ministers supported the Czech Presidency in its efforts to increase affectivity of the approach of the EU to anti-drug policy. At the concluding press conference Minister of the Interior Ivan Langer positively appraised the whole meeting and expressed his satisfaction with its results. On the second day of the Meeting, the Ministers for Justice of the EU Member States met at the Prague Congress Centre. The Meeting was chaired by Czech Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil. The ministers started with a debate on the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions in criminal matters, considered a cornerstone of judicial cooperation in the European Union. Czech Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil believes that there is a consensus among the EU Member States in this area: ‘Today we have agreed that the most efficient instrument in this area is the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant. There are a number of instruments, however, which have not been implemented yet.’ ‘The Dutch delegation put forward a proposal to create a mechanism helping to evaluate and compare legal systems of the Member States. I very much appreciate the fact that the Czech Presidency has opened up space for this discussion,’ said European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Jacques Barrot. As far as civil law is concerned, the delegates discussed the future of judicial cooperation in family and succession law. They tried to reach agreement, among others, on the possibility of strengthening cooperation in amending conflict-of-law rules that govern divorce proceedings of ‘international families’. ‘We thank the Czech Presidency for putting the issue of the strengthening of cooperation on the agenda. France has joined the group of countries that call for a stronger cooperation in this area,’ said Jérôme Deroulez, advisor to the French Minister of Justice. Swedish Justice Minister Beatrice Ask also expressed her position concerning this issue: ‘We are one of the countries which, in the past, prevented a decision on the regulation on divorce. Nevertheless, we will not oppose the decision of other countries to cooperate in this area, should they wish to.’ Most Member States have a similar attitude towards judicial cooperation in the law of succession. The ministers believe that a balanced piece of legislation regulating the issues of jurisdiction, conflict-of law rules as well as the recognition and execution of decisions in succession proceedings may help bring about efficient enforcement of cross- border succession claims. There were lively discussions and reactions concerning e-Justice, an area where the Czech Presidency seeks to promote and facilitate cross-border video-conferencing. Most states agreed that video-conferencing is a very efficient instrument to speed up cross- border judicial proceedings while lowering their costs. ‘During the Czech Presidency, a manual should be produced containing a list of countries and concrete locations where video-conferencing may take place. We plan to provide it to all Member States of the European Union,’ said Czech Minister of Justice Jiří Pospíšil. ‛The European Commission expects Member States to submit requests for disbursement of funds,’ said Jonathan Faull, Director General of the European Commission's Justice, Freedom and Security department. ‛We will soon submit the official request on behalf of the EU Presidency,’ replied Jiří Pospíšil. All countries already using video-conferencing are satisfied and European funding would therefore help significantly towards building a cross-border video-conferencing system. Jiří Pospíšil summed up the Friday ministerial meeting: ‛Today the Council discussed conceptual issues. The debate helped clarify positions and viewpoints of individual Member States within the EU. It made possible the clarification of reflections on possible future directions of justice and opened up a space for subsequent debates aimed to improve cooperation in the field of justice.’
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