Informal Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA)

The informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council will be held on 25-26 January 2018 in Sofia. The meeting started with the home affairs working session, dedicated to migration and asylum, and to borders and security. The meeting will continue with the justice working sessions, dedicated to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and to the Brussels IIa Regulation (Recast).

Agenda

25 January 2018 | Thursday

08:15 - Arrivals at the National Palace of Culture

09:00-10:30 - Working session I – Home Affairs (Migration and asylum)

• The Ministers will discuss the reform of the Common European Asylum System. 
• The reform started in 2016 in order to address the unprecedented migratory crisis. 
• The Bulgarian Presidency will work towards the finalization of the reform, in order to have a flexible, effective and reliable system, which will enable an adequate EU response to future challenges.

10:30 - Family photo

11:00-12:30 - Working session II – Home Affairs

• Migration and asylum

11:30 - Press conference by Volker Türk, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection

14:00 -15:15 - Working session III – Home Affairs (Borders and security)

• In the afternoon sessions, the Ministers will discuss border management issues, in particular the political aspects of the Integrated Border Management concept. The discussion will be in the context of the need to strengthen border control – a crosscutting priority that is of key importance both to enhancing EU internal security and to better migration management. The debate of the Ministers will focus on issues such as cooperation with third countries, increasing the number of returns of illegally staying third country nationals, interagency cooperation in the context of border management, etc.

15:45-17:00 - Working session IV – Home Affairs

• Borders and security

17:00-17:30 - Press conference – Home Affairs

26 January 2018 | Friday

08:15 - Arrivals at the National Palace of Culture

09:00-10:30 - Working session I – Justice (European Public Prosecutor's Office)

• The first session in the Justice section will begin with a discussion on the future of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). The regulation for its establishment was adopted in October 2017, in the context of enhanced cooperation, in which Bulgaria, together with another 19 other Member States, is currently participating. The establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's OfficeEPPO and its effective functioning is one of the main priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency. The focus of the discussion will be on the cooperation and interaction of the European Public Prosecutor’s OfficeEPPO with other European agencies and services, including – EUROJUST, OLAF and EUROPOL.

10:30 - Family photo

11:00-12:30 - Working session II – Justice (Brussels IIa Regulation)

• During the second session the Ministers will discuss one of the main priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency: – the proposal for a revised text of the so-called Brussels IIa Regulation concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, and international child abduction (recast). Ministers are expected to share their views on the progress on this important legislative instrument in order to increase the promptness and effectiveness of cases for return of children abducted by a parent and the recognition of parental responsibility decisions in a Member State other than the state of the ruling.

14:30-15:00 - Press conference – Justice