Justice and Home Affairs Council, 9-10 March 2023

Summary:

A meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) was held on 9-10 March 2023. The agenda included the following items:

• Assessment of the judicial responses and the fight against impunity regarding crime committed in connection with Russia's invasion of Ukraine;
• Briefing from the Council Presidency on discussions regarding a draft Directive on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of EU sanctions;
• Adoption of conclusions on the role of civic space in protecting and promoting fundamental rights in the European Union (EU);
• Discussion on the next steps in combatting racism and antisemitism;
• Exchange of views on barriers to access to justice and how to overcome them;
• Briefing by the Council Presidency on discussions regarding a draft Directive on asset recovery and confiscation;
• Discussion on the threat posed by organised crime in relation to drug trafficking;
• Briefing on the final report regarding the 9th round of mutual evaluations, which focused on legal instruments in the field of deprivation or restriction of liberty;
• Briefing by the European Commission on the latest developments as regards EU-US Data Privacy Framework;
• Briefing by the Council Presidency on the state of play of draft Council Decision on the EU accession to the Istanbul Convention;
• Discussion on the internal and external aspects of migration, following up on latest European Council summit;
• Discussion on the implementation of the Dublin Roadmap;
• Briefing by the Council Presidency on the overall state of the Schengen area;
• Discussion on the future of visa policy;
• Exchange of views on the implementation of interoperability;
• Discussion on the state of play of the internal security dialogue with Ukraine;
• Briefing by the European Commission on the first six months of operation of the EU support hub for internal security and border management in Moldova;
• Reports by the Greek delegation on the second European conference on border management, by the Portuguese delegation on the EU-MENA ministerial conference on strategic policy partnership towards a trustful security cooperation, and by the French delegation on vigilance about organisations promoting values incompatibles with those of the EU;
• Adoption of position regarding visa free travel for travels holding passports issued by Kosovo.

Official

General Secretariat of the Council: Background Brief for Council meeting - Justice and Home Affairs Council, 9-10 March 2023 https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/62863/background-brief-jha-23030910.pdf

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