Justice and Home Affairs Council, 25-26 February 2010

Summary:

A meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council was held on 25-26 February 2010. The agenda includes the following items:

+ Adoption of the Internal Security Strategy for the European Union;

+ Adoption of an institution decision on setting up the Standing Committee on operational cooperation on internal security (COSI);

+ Adoption of conclusions on measures for reinforcing the protection of the external borders and combating illegal immigration;

+ Discussion on the issue of visa waiver reciprocity with Canada;

+ First orientation debate on an European Pact Against Drug International Trafficking;

+ Update from the European Commission, followed by discussion on the way forward regarding the cooperation with the United States of America regarding the processing and the transfer of financial messaging data for purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP);

+ Orientation debate regarding the initiative for a Directive on a European protection order;

+ Update on the state of play of a proposed Directive on rights of interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings;

+ Update on the state of play of preparatory work carried out on the EU's accession to the Council of Europe's Human Rights Convention (EHRC);

+ Adoption of resolution on a model agreement for setting up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT);

+ Adoption of the Council's position concerning a proposed Regulation on establishing a European Asylum Support Office (EASO) as well as a Decision determining the seat of the office.