EU Interior Ministers appoint new Europol director
The Justice and Home Affairs Council met in Luxembourg on 6 April 2009. The debate on home affairs was chaired by Czech Minister of the Interior Ivan Langer.
“We have just concluded a highly successful meeting of the Council. We have chosen the new Europol director. I consider this to be a great achievement accomplished during the Czech Presidency. I am glad to say that the situation of the year 2004, when Europol found itself without director, won’t be repeated. There is hard work behind us and an intensive search for compromise. I am glad that we have managed to reach the agreement and that Europol can start working under the new director”, said Minister Langer. The Council today appointed Britain’s candidate Rob Wainwright as the new head of Europol.
Other issues on the home affairs agenda included, above all:
• Information on the state of affairs of the second-generation Schengen Information System (SIS II)
• Information on the visit of Vice-President of the European Commission Jacques Barrot and Czech Minister of the Interior Ivan Langer to the USA (16 - 17 March 2009)
• Current state of affairs of the Visa Information System project
• Proposal for a Council Directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State (“single permit”)
SIS II
The Council has entered into the second half of the implementation of the Czech Presidency plan to overcome the crisis of the SIS II. Everything is running in accordance with the plan and the schedule that was set at the informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Prague in January. Today the Council confirmed that the deadline for the adoption of a decision on the future of the SIS II project will be at its meeting in June.
Guantánamo
“On Sunday at the EU-USA summit the United States officially asked the EU for help and cooperation. Today, we have agreed on further discussions. However, the main responsibility still lies with the United States and the decision on whether to receive the prisoners or not is within the remit of each Member State”, stated Ivan Langer. Today, for the first time, other Schengen Member States – Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland - also participated in the meeting on Guantánamo.
Single permit
At today’s meeting the Council agreed to search for a compromise. The negotiations had begun already during the Slovenian Presidency and continued during the French Presidency, which made great progress in discussions of this proposal. Work on this document has not been easy and that is why we believe that we will be able to reach a consensus.
Contact:
- Markéta Matlochová, Spokeswoman of the Ministry of the Interior
- Tel.: +420 974 832 972–4, GSM.: +420 603 191 750, E-mail: matlochova@mvcr.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:33
