here - United Kingdom Parliament

81WS
Written Ministerial Statements
1 DECEMBER 2010
Written Ministerial Statements
82WS
legislative proposals on their merits in consultation with
our European partners and relevant EU institutions.
The Council will then receive updates from the
Commission on the Mediterranean Office for Youth,
the Greek national action plan on asylum and migration
and a legal migration conference held on 26 November.
The Mediterranean Office for Youth supports circular
migration for educational purposes. The UK is not a
participant in the Mediterranean Office for Youth, which
is restricted to members of the Union for the
Mediterranean. The UK considers the Greek national
action plan on asylum and migration (the “Greek Action
Plan”) to be key in increasing the ability of Greece to
act as an efficient partner in countering illegal migration.
Alongside other EU member states we have offered
practical assistance to Greece, however we would like to
see the establishment of an effective Commission-led
process to ensure co-ordination and prioritisation; avoid
duplication of member states’actions; ensure the availability
of clear, accessible funding streams to support the
action plan; and the setting of clear timescales for
action and milestones for progress. The presidency will
also present their conclusions following the conference
on legal migration.
Over lunch Interior Ministers will be asked to agree a
regulation to create an agency for large-scale IT systems
in the JHA field. This would be accompanied by a
Council decision ensuring full UK participation in the
agency, which was a Government priority as the agency
will manage a number of existing systems in which we
participate (Eurodac and the second generation of the
Schengen Information System). While the Government
are content with the text as drafted some member states
have maintained reserves which will need to be resolved
before the Council, in particular concerning the location
of the agency. Also during lunch Ministers will discuss
alternatives to detaining children for immigration purposes.
The UK Government are committed to ending the
detention of children in the UK and a review is currently
underway to consider how this can be done in a way
which protects the welfare of children and ensures that
families leave when they have no right to be in the UK.
This will be an opportunity to share experience and
ideas with other member states who are also dealing
with this difficult issue.
After lunch, the Commission will present their draft
action plan on combating heavy arms trafficking. Should
this plan be endorsed during this Council, the EU will
have an integrated approach to combating arms trafficking,
and more particularly heavy fire arms.
Next the presidency will present for agreement Council
conclusions on itinerant gangs which seek to define the
problem of itinerant crime groups and agree an
administrative approach to tackle the problem, including
increased cross-border co-operation. The Council will
also be asked to agree draft Council conclusions on
preventing and combating identity related crimes and
on identity management.
The Council will be asked to agree negotiating mandates
which will authorise the start of negotiations between
the EU and the United States, Canada, and Australia
for the transfer and use of passenger name records
(PNR) to prevent and combat terrorism and other
forms of serious cross-border crime. Clear PNR agreements
between the EU and Australia, Canada and the US will
play a vital role in removing legal uncertainty for air
carriers flying to those third countries. It will also help
ensure that, where appropriate, PNR data can be shared
quickly and securely with all necessary data protection
safeguards in place. The Government are content with
the proposed negotiating mandates but has yet to take a
decision on whether or not to opt in. The Government
strongly believe that early publication of an EU PNR
Directive covering intra-EU as well as external flights is
vital to the safety and security of EU citizens.
Next the EU CT co-ordinator will present a discussion
paper to Council on an EU CT strategy which covers
transport security, terrorist travel, cyber threats, the
external dimension of CT and fighting discrimination
and social marginalisation of Muslims.
The UK welcomes the paper as a useful starting
point for further policy discussions. The EU CT
co-ordinator will also provide an update on progress
against the EU action plan on combating terrorism to
date.
The presidency will seek agreement on a paper on a
system for sharing information on terrorist threat levels
in the member states. The UK supports improvements
to the information sharing mechanisms on terrorist
threat levels at the EU level while maintaining that
changes to threat levels remain a member state competence.
The Council will also be asked to reach agreement on
a paper recommending proposals to strengthen aviation
security following the incident at East Midlands airport.
This paper will go jointly to the Transport and JHA
Councils on 02 December for agreement. The UK
welcomes this report and will press for early, effective
and co-ordinated action.
Commissioner Malmström will present her EU Internal
Security Communication, which looks to translate the
Council’s EU internal security strategy into action points
and will seek initial views from member states. The text
was published on 23 November. The Government are
therefore considering the detail of what is proposed and
will set out their initial views at the Council.
On the justice day, the Council will be asked to agree
the text of the EU directive on human trafficking. In
June, the Government made a decision not to opt in to
the directive, but to review its position after adoption,
at which point the UK could apply to opt in retrospectively.
The directive is in its final stages of negotiation; there
is a qualified majority in the Council and should the
European Parliament also agree the text in December
adoption will follow.
The presidency will then seek a general approach on
the draft directive on combating sexual exploitation
and abuse of children and child pornography. This draft
directive aims to update existing EU legislation in the
area of combating child sexual exploitation and
pornography in line with technological developments
such as the use of webcams to bully children into sexual
posing (a pornographic performance). The Government
are seeking scrutiny clearance to enable the UK to
support the presidency in reaching a general approach.
There will be a state of play report on the European
Investigation Order (EIO), which is a draft directive
aimed at streamlining the system of mutual legal assistance
between participating EU member states. The presidency
will report progress on negotiations but is not expected
to seek agreement on any issues at this time. The
Government will take the opportunity to press for
further detailed work on the grounds for refusing assistance.