Ministerial Troika EU – Ukraine met in Luxembourg
On 3 June 2009, Luxembourg hosted the Troika meeting of Justice and Interior Ministers of the European Union and Ukraine.
The European Union was represented by Czech Minister of the Interior Martin Pecina, Czech Minister of Justice Daniela Kovářová, Director-General for Justice, Freedom and Security in the European Commission Jonathan Faull and representatives of Eurojust and Frontex. The meeting was also attended by representatives of Sweden, which will take over the EU Presidency from the Czech Republic. The Ukrainian delegation was led by Minister of Justice Mykola Onischuk and Deputy Minister of the Interior Vasyl Marmazov.
Topics for discussion:
- fight against corruption
- fight against organised crime (drugs, trafficking in human beings, money laundering)
- migration and asylum
- visa policy
“The area of justice, freedom and security is the key element of our partnership, we face common challenges in the area of mobility and security”, said Martin Pecina.
Migration and asylum
At today’s meeting the Ministers assessed the developments in the fulfillment of the Action Plan on migration and asylum. “The issues of asylum, migration and border protection are highly important. Our discussion followed up on the conference “Building Migration Partnerships” that took place in Prague in April. This conference confirmed the determination of the participants to strengthen mutual partnerships, jointly solve migration problems and respect mutual needs. The common declaration appropriately defines the points of our improved cooperation in the field of illegal migration, return, legal migration, integration and migration and development. An important conclusion of this meeting was the common determination to continue these meetings that will address the issue of the fulfilment of individual thematic areas of the Prague Declaration on Migration,” added the Interior Minister.
Fight against organised crime:
This issue is a common goal of the cooperation between the EU and Ukraine. The ministers agreed that organised crime is a threat cutting across state borders, which we have to fight together. Talks held in this section focused on the following areas:
1. Implementation of the revised action plan – Ukraine informed of concrete national measures,
2. European cooperation in the fight against organised crime, computer crime, trade in human beings, drug trade – the debate addressed new developments on both sides,
3. Presentation of the results achieved by the Czech Presidency in these areas.
Visa policy
The EU and Ukraine agreed on the need to pursue their dialogue the aim of which is to create conditions for a visa-waiver scheme for Ukrainian citizens when travelling to the European Union. The ministers were debriefed on the conclusions of the high-level meeting summing up the current state-of-play of the visa dialogue in all four sections and outlining further steps to take in this area.
The meeting highlighted the importance of proper implementation of agreements on readmission and visa facilitation. Despite certain drawbacks, these agreements constitute an instrument conducive to the development of contacts between people and contributing to the fight against illegal migration.
- You can find the photo gallery from the meeting on the website of the EU Council.
- More information : Minister of Justice holds meeting on behalf of Presidency with counterpart Mykola Onischuk
Contact:
- Markéta Matlochová, Spokeswoman of the Ministry of the Interior
- Tel.: +420 974 832 972–4, GSM.: +420 603 191 750, E-mail: [email protected]
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:19
