| The informal JHA Council meeting will examine immigration-related issues and police and judiciary cooperation measures in order to ensure a high level protection of people on the 7 of July 2008. To deal with organised crime and international terrorism, the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union will start a debate on the structure of internal security within the EU to strengthen operational cooperation, with a view to the convergence of police services across the 27 Member States. This convergence should involve improved sharing of information, an increase in joint training and research into the interoperability of equipment. Concrete initiatives will be put forward with regard to combating:
- terrorism;
- drug trafficking;
- cybercrime.
The French presidency would like to set up a solidarity action plan for the EU to deal with natural or man-made disasters. Its aim is to enhance European capabilities in civil protection. To realise this principle of solidarity, it proposes the organisation of the material and human resources of the Member States into easily-deployable modules ready to intervene whenever and wherever necessary.
The French presidency will focus this meeting on the implementation of a common policy on immigration and asylum through a pact which it will present. This European pact revolves around 5 major themes involving a certain number of concrete commitments with a view to:
- organising legal immigration based on the requirements of the employment market and the capacity to accept immigrants of each Member State, and promoting the integration of immigrant populations;
- combating illegal immigration and organising the effective removal from EU territory of foreigners who are residing illegally in Member States;
- providing better protection for Europe by improving the effectiveness of border controls;
- developing an asylum system for Europe;
- developing a partnership with countries of origin and transit to support their development.
Lastly, to enhance the European judicial area, ministers will examine:
- the training of judges and legal personnel: the aims being to identify requirements and make an inventory of resources in order to determine the content.
- the protection of individuals: vulnerable adults and children: ageing of the population is a concern for all EU states; mobility of populations does not stop the number of old people increasing. Some age groups will be subject to legal protection measures which must be guaranteed. The Hague Convention of 13th January 2000 is an appropriate instrument. It guarantees that all protective decisions for citizens must be implemented in all the countries in which citizens live or travel. Ministers will be urged to sign and then ratify the Hague Convention. The protection of children in the event of international abduction is indispensable. A film recounting the joint exercise between France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg of 12 June 2008 will be shown to encourage each Member State to adopt an abduction warning system, in keeping with national constraints, and to determine procedures for simultaneous action when an abduction takes place within a border zone.
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