The Diplomat
Logroño hosted this week the Informal Meeting of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union, held in the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU and in which the heads of both areas addressed the latest reforms necessary to conclude the Pact on Migration and Asylum in this same European legislature, despite the obvious rejection of Hungary and Poland, and the creation of a joint investigation team on Russian crimes in Ukraine.
Past Thursday, the interior ministers discussed the need to push for a Crisis Management Regulation, the last piece of the migration reform that will set the terms of the 27 to start negotiating the Migration Pact with the European Parliament. Before the start of the Council, the Minister of the Interior and President of the Council of Interior Ministers, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, told the press that the Spanish Presidency’s objective is to “finalize before the end of this month the Council’s position” on the Crisis Management Regulation.
The regulation, which would include more streamlined administrative procedures for asylum and return and a solidarity mechanism between EU Member States and the most affected regions, is “an absolutely necessary tool for dealing with extraordinary situations, which until recently were practically unknown in the EU and which we now know can affect any Member State”, the Minister of the Interior declared at the end of the meeting, during a joint press conference with the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.
The Spanish Presidency’s objective is to close the Pact on Migration and Asylum before the end of the current European legislature. “We are working on it and it is our priority,” said the minister, who called for “effort, flexibility and generosity from everyone to face with serenity, without falling into haste and the urgencies of the tight schedule, but without stopping for a single minute”, the conclusion of a pact “necessary, essential and of great importance for the future of the Union”.
In any case, Thursday’s meeting confirmed the reluctance of Hungary and Poland against the solidarity sharing of migrants in crisis situations, such as mass arrivals. However, both Grande-Marlaska and Ilva Johansson downplayed the importance of the position of these two countries because, they recalled, unanimity is not mandatory to move forward with the pact. They also agreed that, after eight years of deadlock over the renewal of the migration policy, the EU is now in a better situation because there is “trust between the Member States”.
Justice in Ukraine
Yesterday, the second day of the informal meeting in Logroño, was dedicated to the Ministers of Justice, who, among other issues, addressed the judicial support to Ukraine, as indicated in the joint press conference by the Minister of Justice and host of the meeting, Pilar Llop, and the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders.
According to the commissioner, the EU should collaborate in the accountability of perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine and in the “real care for victims”, supporting the work of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office and working to ensure specialized psychological support from the Victims Coordination Center. He also expressed satisfaction with the work of EU member states both with their actions to bring “perpetrators of international crimes to justice” and with their “great support for the victims of those crimes.”
For her part, Pilar Llop assured that during the meeting “the creation of a joint investigation team has been highlighted” and warned of the need to be “implacable” with Russia to make it answer for the “damage” perpetrated in Ukraine. “The ultimate goal is always to protect the victims, we cannot obviate that there have been transfers of more than 16,000 minors, boys and girls to Russia, giving rise to an arrest warrant from the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court,” she added.
