Date of release : 15-04-2005

Policy area : Justice and Home Affairs Justice and Home Affairs

Event : Permanent Partnership Council JHA EU-Russia (Troika)

The Justice and Home Affairs ministerial meeting between the European Union and the Russian Federation (Troika) was held on 15 April 2005 at Canach (Luxembourg). The Troika brought together the current President of the "JHA" Council and Luxembourg Minister for Justice, Luc Frieden, the Luxembourg Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Nicolas Schmit, the Russian Presidential Aide Victor Ivanov, the Interior Minister of the Russian Federation, Rachid Nourgaliyev, the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, Yuri Tchaika, and the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, Franco Frattini.

The Luxembourg Presidency welcomed the second meeting of the Permanent Partnership Council for Justice and Home Affairs with the Russian Federation. Luc Frieden noted that the dialogue on Justice and Home Affairs is an important component of the strategic partnership with Russia.

The European Union attaches great importance to respecting the balance between the topics of security and human rights and having it form part of the roadmap for the common area of freedom, security and justice.

Luc Frieden stated that "we, the European Union and Russia, have a strategic partnership and a mutual interest in working together so that we can ensure greater internal security for our states", adding that "many subjects have repercussions that go beyond our borders, which is why the Troika should help us to make substantial progress in the areas of freedom, security and justice".

In view of the next summit of 10 May 2005 between the heads of State and Government of the EU and the President of the Russian Federation, the objective is to achieve a certain number of results on the dossiers of the area of freedom, security and justice. On this subject, Luc Frieden remarked with satisfaction that "we share the same points of view on the principal sections, such as questions relating to the facilitation of visas, the readmission agreement and the fight against terrorism, organised crime and corruption." These dossiers should be ready to allow binding commitments during the Moscow Summit with the short-term agendas on the information exchange mechanism in the fight against terrorism and even strengthened judicial assistance mechanisms.

He then stated that "the commitments by the EU and Russia are clear on these points, which will allow us to make considerable progress, but there remain, nevertheless, a few questions to be clarified."

After the press conference, Luc Frieden added that "we also noted that the implementation of a plan of action on the subject of the fight against organised crime is progressing well. Organised crime does not stop at the frontiers of the EU or of Russia. So it is necessary to cooperate together in the framework of an increasingly important partnership. We spoke about money laundering, and information mechanisms in that area. There is work to be done between now and 10 May, but on the broad outlines we are in agreement. The Russian delegations were very clear on a certain number of points, which will allow us to look forward to this summit with optimism."

Franco Frattini, the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the realisation of a European space of freedom, security and justice, noted with satisfaction "the political will to make progress in the EU/Russian cooperation in the fight against organised crime and corruption."