Grenzen moeten het de burgers niet langer moeilijk maken (en)

The Hungarian Presidency i wishes to support the fight against organised crime and to increase the sum for internal affairs within the EU’s budget. Also, it wants to make headways in removing all circumstances that prevent EU citizens from exercising their rights. These will be the subjects of the meeting of Home and Justice Ministers in Gödöllo.

The Justice and Home Affairs Council will hold its two-day informal meeting in Gödöllo, a city near Budapest, on 20 and 21 January 2011. At the two sessions and business lunch of the first day, Ministers of Home Affairs will discuss the following topics: reinforcement of the fight against organised crime, the share of home expenditures in the EU’s post-2014 multi-annual budget, and integrated border administration.

On the second day, Justice Ministers will hold two plenary sessions and a business lunch to discuss ways to eliminate all obstacles to the exercise of EU citizens’ rights, actions to prevent community legislation from curbing EU citizens’ fundamental rights, and ways to improve cooperation in the training of judges, prosecutors and lawyers.

Fight against organised crime

The Hungarian Presidency wishes to keep on the agenda the reinforcement of the fight against organised crime. This matter takes a central place in the Hungarian Presidency’s internal policy programme. Budapest expects to draft a comprehensive document setting out the main points of the fight against organised crime by June, when Justice and Home Ministers hold their next official meeting.

Home affairs in th EU budget

Regarding the internal policy chapter of the EU’s next long-term budget, the Hungarian Presidency asked ministers which internal activities the member states receive insufficient funding from the EU’s budget, whether home expenditures should be raised, or whether there is a need for the simplification of disbursement rules, and how to finance the external, international dimension of internal activities.

The share of funding for home affairs in the EU’s budget is relatively small, less than 1 percent, while internal activities are gaining strength. The structure of the EU’s multi-annual budget is too inflexible for unexpected needs, such as catastrophes. Another problem is any foreign cooperation for internal security is only eligible for symbolic amounts from the EU’s budget.

New technologies in border management

In the field of border management, the Hungarian Presidency strives to achieve an agreement on the foundations of the development of integrated border management. Primarily, this means the application of new technologies. The Hungarian Presidency will ask member states about their proposed basic principles in the application of new technologies.

Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens' rights

At their first plenary session, Justice Ministers will discuss crossborder issues, which despite the single market, still prevent EU citizens from exercising their rights in many situations of their lives, including married couples of different nationalities, inheritance in several countries, divorce, medical assistance or online shopping.

In October 2010, the Commission gathered EU citizens’ complaints and drafted a report which identified the 25 biggest obstacles, and proposed 25 short and medium-term measures for their elimination. The Hungarian Presidency will now ask member states for their opinions about the proposals.

Talks during the business lunch will revolve around the Council’s potential role in the enforcement of the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a part of EU legislation, for example, its desirable actions to prevent the EU’s principal institutions (Council, Commission and Parliament) from curbing EU citizens’ basic rights in their legislative acts. In October 2010, the Commission made proposals and the Hungarian Presidency will now initiate an exchange of opinions in this respect. The debate could result in a decision to be made by the official meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 24 and 25 February 2010.

Cooperation in judicial training

The second plenary session will discuss cooperation in judicial training. This is a priority in the Trio Presidency’s programme. The underlying problem is the EU legislation is speeding up, while member state judges tend to know little about the EU’s legal sources and speak no foreign language, thus do not know the legal terminology of other member states. By virtue of a Council decision from 2009, half of the EU’s judges, prosecutors and lawyers should complete EU training or exchange education programmes by 2015. At the same time, of the EU’s approximately 160,000 judges and prosecutors fewer than 10,000 have completed such training in the past 10 years.

The Hungarian Presidency takes the view that there is no need for new institutions, but for cooperation among the existing national training institutions. The Presidency will discuss with member states how best to improve cooperation in judicial training and whether every legal profession should be involved or priority should first be given to judges and prosecutors.