Date of release : 14-01-2005

Policy area : Justice and Home Affairs Justice and Home Affairs

Event : Informal Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers

The informal meeting of the Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs will be held in Luxembourg on 28 and 29 January 2005. The Luxembourg Minister for Justice, Luc Frieden, and the Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Nicolas Schmit, will host this six-monthly meeting which will be held at the Kiem Conference Centre on Kirchberg (North-east of the City of Luxembourg).

This meeting will provide an opportunity for the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs to conduct an initial exchange of views on the implementation of "the Hague Programme".

The participants will discuss the key ideas outlined in this programme. Therefore, in a bid to "strengthen justice" and address the problems caused by a strictly national sentencing procedure, the morning of 28 January will be devoted to European policies on the mutual recognition of criminal decisions and the idea of a European criminal record. The Luxembourg Presidency will organise a first press briefing at 12.15.

During lunch, the Ministers will tackle the issue of financial perspectives relating to JHA.

With a view to "strengthening security", the afternoon will be devoted to police and judicial cooperation at European level. The Ministers will also take stock of the situation regarding the identification of tsunami victims in south-east Asia and will focus on the practical and legal consequences brought about by the disappearance of a large number of European citizens. The working day will finish with a Presidency press conference at 16.30.

The work of this informal meeting will continue on 29 January. From 09.30 to 10.30, the Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs will debate the orientations and priorities to be pursued in order to establish the action plan for implementing "the Hague Programme".

The meeting will close with a discussion of the external dimension of political asylum attended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers. Together they will touch on the issues of protection in the countries of origin, strengthening accommodation capacities, relocalisation of refugees as well as cooperation with transit countries. A Presidency press conference will be held at 13.15.