Informele JBZ-Raad: "Veiligheid is een fundamentele waarde" (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Oostenrijks Voorzitterschap Europese Unie 1e helft 2006, gepubliceerd op vrijdag 13 januari 2006.

Informal Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers has begun in Vienna

Asylum and migration issues were on the agenda on the first day of the Informal Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs taking place in Vienna on 13-14 January. A broad consensus emerged on important issues, such as measures to establish a common EU asylum system.

Practical cooperation between the Member States is to be stepped up through the following measures:

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    work on a common information system on the situation in the countries of origin and
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     EU support in future for Member States requiring assistance in the area of asylum/migration in special circumstances.

The second area concerns the project "Protection in the region" - specific pilot projects are to be developed as quickly as possible and - if possible - launched during the Austrian Presidency. A broad consensus was achieved in both these areas.

Joint return of asylum seekers was also discussed. "Return conditions must be humane", the Austrian minister of the Interior Prokop said. The Austrian Presidency had made very specific proposals on this, for instance the organisation of charter flights by the EU.

Another important topic discussed was the definition of "safe" third countries. The discussion had shown that this subject needed to be taken up again. It was not acceptable within the EU-25 to have totally different treatment of asylum seekers and a different legal assessment of third countries, according to Prokop.

A more intensive exchange of information in national asylum cases was also on the programme. "We will have to liaise and coordinate more closely if we want to achieve a common asylum system", she said.

"In the programme agreed with the European Commission, we have defined a common added value for the safety of the people. That is a very important factor, for safety is a fundamental value". This was particularly crucial in the areas of police cooperation, combatting terrorism and corruption, and illegal migration, Prokop concluded.

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