Agrégateur de flux

BRÜSSZEL. Saját kezébe kell vennie a védelmét az Európai Uniónak, új tervre van szükség a stratégiai autonómia megteremtésére, amelybe a katonai költségek növelése és az együttműködés fokozása is beletartozik, a kontinens országai ugyanis "túl régóta függenek másoktól" ebben a tekintetben - hangsúlyozta Jean-Claude Juncker, az Európai Bizottság elnöke a The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) című amerikai lap honlapján kedden megjelent véleménycikkében.

Alain Juppé, Valérie Pécresse, Henri de Castries... Plusieurs personnalités de droite ont choisi de soutenir des candidats concurrents de ceux de LR. Un phénomène que la rue de Vaugirard souhaite dédramatiser.

POZSONY. Dušan Kováčik speciális ügyész azt állítja, hogy a Gorilla-ügyben olyan új bizonyítékok bukkantak fel, amelyek miatt valószínűleg újabb büntetőeljárás indul. Erről Kováčik a parlament alkotmányjogi bizottságának ülésén beszélt, s mint elmondta, teljesen friss, 48 órás információkról van szó.

RAKKA. Az Egyesült Államok támogatta arab-kurd Szíriai Demokratikus Erők (SDF) szervezet megkezdte a hadművelet Rakka visszafoglalására az Iszlám Állam (IÁ) dzsihadista szervezettől - erősítette meg kedden az SDF.

Place:           European Convention Centre Luxembourg (ECCL)

Chair(s):      Urmas Reinsalu, Estonian minister for Justice, and
                      Andres Anvelt, Estonian minister for Home Affairs,
                      on behalf of the Maltese Presidency of the Council

All times are approximate and subject to change

Justice (Thursday, 8 June)

+/- 08.00
Arrivals - Justice ministers (live streaming)

+/- 08.15
Doorstep by Ambassador Marlene Bonnici

+/- 10.00
Beginning of the meeting (roundtable)
Adoption of the agenda
Adoption of legislative A items

+/- 10.10
Establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) (public session)

+/- 10.55
Digital Agenda: Supply of digital content (public session)

+/- 11.25
Revision of Brussels II a: jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, and on international child abduction (public session)

+/- 12.05
Insolvency: preventive restructuring frameworks, second chance and measures to increase the efficiency of restructuring, insolvency and discharge procedures (public session)

+/- 12.45
Countering money laundering by criminal law (public session)

+/- 13.05
Data protection by Union institutions and bodies: protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and of the free movement of such data (public session)

+/- 13.20
Other business - Information from the Presidency on current legislative proposals (public session)

Approval of the list non-legislative "A" items

Other business - Work programme of the incoming Presidency

+/- 13.45
Working lunch (Hate speech online)

+/- 14.30
Arrivals - Home affairs ministers

+/- 15.30
Joint session of Justice and Home affairs ministers (roundtable)

Criminal Justice in cyberspace
a)  e-evidence
b) encryption
c)  data retention

Protection of children in Migration
a)  Draft Conclusions on the protection of children in Migration
b)  Protection of children in Migration

+/- 18.00
Press conference (live streaming)

Home affairs (Friday, 9 June)

+/- 08.30
Arrivals (live streaming)

+/- 09.25
Doorstep by Ambassador Marlene Bonnici 

+/- 10.00
Meeting of the Mixed committee (roundtable)
Adoption of the agenda

Establishment of a European Travel and Information Authorisation System (ETIAS)

Schengen Information System (SIS)

Other business

+/- 11.45
Beginning of the Home affairs Council meeting

Migration

+/- 13.00
Working lunch of ministers for home affairs (Counter-terrorism)

+/- 14.45
Home affairs Council meeting resumes

Return Policy - Implementation of Commission Recommendation on Return

Information Systems and Interoperability

Other business - Work programme of the incoming Presidency

+/- 16.20
Reform of the Common European Asylum System and Resettlement (public session)

+/- 16.50
Establishment of European Travel and Information Authorisation System (ETIAS) (public session)

+/- 16.55
Schengen Information System (SIS) (public session)

+/- 17.00
Other business - Information from the Presidency on current legislative proposals

+/- 17.05
Press conference (live streaming)

Die Zahl der Drogentoten in Europa ist 2015 zum dritten Mal in Folge gestiegen.

Le point de vue de Pascal Boniface

POZSONY. Illegális toborzási kísérleteket észlelt az Általános Egészségbiztosító. Az állami tulajdonú egészségbiztosító több ízben is törvénytelenségekre lett figyelmes az idei biztosítóváltási kampány folyamán.

Royaume-Uni, Angleterre, Ecosse, Irlande… L'autre rive de la Manche révèle, lorsqu'on s'y penche, une multitude de termes géographiques qu'on a parfois du mal à remettre à leur place. Ce que l'on sait encore moins, c'est qu'au Royaume-Uni, les régions – ou plutôt les "nations constitutives" selon le terme officiel – bénéficient d'une autonomie croissante depuis la fin des années 1990. Quelles sont ces nations et quels pouvoirs leurs sont dévolus ? Toute l'Europe vous éclaire sur la question.

Le chef du gouvernement Édouard Philippe a annoncé, mardi, que la réforme du code du travail se fera par ordonnances. Mais que signifie "légiférer par ordonnances" ? Explications.

Macedonians were overwhelmed with joy when male handball team Vardar became European title-winners by defeating Paris Saint-Germain in the nail-biting final of the EHF Champions League.

ZSELÍZ. A hagyományos programok mellett új kísérőrendezvényeket és több mint ezer fellépőt ígér az Országos Népművészeti Fesztivál, amelyet idén ismét eredeti színhelyén, Zselízen rendeznek meg június 9. és 11. között - tájékoztatott Juhász Eszter, a fesztivál programigazgatója kedden.

Emmanuel Macron a récemment été épinglé pour sa blague de mauvais goût sur les "kwassa-kwassa", ces embarcations qui vont des Comores à Mayotte. Ce n'est pas la première fois qu'il fait une bourde au sujet de territoires d'Outre-mer.

On 9 June 2017, the Council agreed a general approach on the proposal for a European travel information and authorisation system (ETIAS). The general approach constitutes the Council's position for negotiations with the European Parliament.

"ETIAS will help improve our security and protect our citizens. It will require all those who do not need a visa to be checked before they travel to the Schengen area. Anyone posing a risk can be prevented from coming."

Maltese Presidency of the Council

ETIAS will allow for advance checks and, if necessary, deny travel authorisation to visa-exempt third-country nationals travelling to the Schengen area. It will help improve internal security, prevent illegal immigration, limit public health risks and reduce delays at the borders by identifying persons who may pose a risk in one of these areas before they arrive at the external borders.

Functioning of the system

The Council position includes the following elements.

The system will apply to visa-exempt third country nationals, as well as those who are exempt from the airport transit visa requirement. They will need to obtain a travel authorisation before their trip, via an online application.

The information submitted in each application will be automatically processed against other EU databases to determine whether there are grounds to refuse a travel authorisation. When no hits or elements requiring further analysis are identified, the travel authorisation will be issued automatically within a short time. This is expected to be the case for the large majority of applications.

If there is a hit or an element requiring analysis, the application will be handled manually by the competent authorities. In this case, the ETIAS central unit will first check that the data recorded in the application file corresponds to the data triggering a hit. When it does or when doubt remains, the application will be processed manually by the ETIAS national unit of the responsible member state. The issuing or refusal of an application which has triggered a hit will take place no later than 96 hours after the application is submitted or, if additional information has been requested, 96 hours after this information has been received.

Before boarding, air carriers, sea carriers and international carriers transporting groups overland by coach will need to check whether third country nationals subject to the travel authorisation requirement are in possession of a valid travel authorisation.

The travel authorisation will not provide an automatic right of entry or stay; it is the border guard who will take the final decision.

A travel authorisation will be valid for three years or until the end of validity of the travel document registered during application, whichever comes first.

OSTRAVA. A nyolcszoros olimpiai bajnok Usain Bolt idén is rajthoz áll Ostravában a Golden Spike elnevezésű atlétikaversenyen.

On 8 June, the Council adopted its position on the proposed Directive on countering money laundering by criminal law.

The objective of the proposed directive is to: 

• establish minimum rules concerning the definition of criminal offences and sanctions relating to money laundering;
• remove obstacles to cross-border judicial and police cooperation by setting common provisions to improve the investigation of money laundering related offences;
• bring EU rules in line with international obligations, in particular those arising from the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (Warsaw Convention) and the relevant Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations.

"To conduct terrorist or other criminal activities, one needs money. With these new rules, our objective is to disrupt and effectively cut off the financial sources of criminals. It is a key dimension of the EU fight against terrorism and that is why the Maltese presidency has set a high priority on this file.  We now hope that the European Parliament will be in a position to engage in negotiations with the Council in a timely manner, in the context of the ordinary legislative procedure."

Maltese Presidency

The compromise reached by the Council achieves a balance between the positions expressed by member states whilst respecting the main objectives of the initial proposal.

Discussions at the Council focused in particular on:

• the scope of the definition of a "criminal activity" (Article 2(1)) where the Council compromise reaffirms that all categories of offences defined by the Council of Europe Warsaw Convention are covered as predicate offences, while references to existing EU legislation defining specific offences are also included to ensure that they are considered within the respective category. Furthermore, to address the growing threat of cybercrime, the Council agreed that this category should be also added in the definition of criminal activity.  
• the introduction of a criminalisation obligation for self-laundering (Article 3(3))
• the link with the PIF directive, which provides specific rules for money laundering of property derived from PIF offences (Article  1(2)) where the Council underlines that member states can transpose these rules through a single comprehensive framework on money laundering at national level;

Background

The proposal was tabled by the Commission in December 2016 together with a proposal for a regulation on the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders. Both texts are part of the EU plan to strengthen the fight against terrorist financing and financial crimes. The overall objective is to further disrupt the sources of revenue used by terrorist organisations, as well as to improve the tracing of terrorists through financial movements.

Next steps

The Council and the Parliament will enter into negotiations on the final text as soon as the latter has decided on its position.

On 8 June, the member states which are part of the enhanced cooperation on the creation of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) agreed on legislation setting out the details of its functioning and role.

The EPPO will have the authority, under certain conditions, to investigate and prosecute EU-fraud and other crimes affecting the Union's financial interests. It will bring together European and national law-enforcement efforts to counter EU fraud.

The EPPO central office will be based in Luxembourg. The date on which the EPPO will assume its investigative and prosecutorial tasks will be set by the Commission on the basis of a proposal from the European Chief Prosecutor once the EPPO has been set up. This date will not be earlier than three years after the entry into force of this Regulation.

Functioning of the EPPO

The EPPO will work as a collegial structure composed of two levels. The central level will consist of a European chief prosecutor, who will have overall responsibility for the office. The decentralised level will be made up of European delegated prosecutors located in the member states, who will be in charge of the day-to-day conduct of criminal investigations and prosecutions in line with the regulation and legislation of that member state.

The central level will monitor, direct and supervise all investigations and prosecutions  undertaken by European Delegated Prosecutors, thereby ensuring a consistent investigation and prosecution policy across Europe.

Although its competence is limited to the participating member states, the EPPO will cooperate with the other EU non-participating member states. In this respect, the Council invited the Commission to reflect on submitting appropriate proposals to ensure the effectiveness of this judicial cooperation.

Enhanced cooperation

The enhanced cooperation procedure was launched on 3 April 2017 following the registration of the lack of unanimous agreement on the proposal.

Up until now, 18 member states have joined the enhanced cooperation: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.

Moreover, another 2 member states, namely Italy and Austria have expressed their intention to join the enhanced cooperation.

Other member states may join the cooperation at any time.

Background

The Union and its member states sometimes face complex cases of, for example, fraud against EU structural funds or large-scale cross-border VAT fraud. In those cases, national criminal investigators and prosecutors often lack the tools required to act quickly and efficiently across borders.

The EPPO will address these shortcomings and enhance the fight against offences affecting the Union's financial interests, thereby  contributing to a stronger and better protected Union budget.

The EPPO will complement the work of OLAF and Eurojust, which are not equipped to investigate or prosecute individual criminal cases.

Next steps

Prior to the final adoption of the EPPO regulation, the European Parliament's consent is required to be sought. It is expected that this could happen before the summer break, allowing for the final adoption of the text in October.

Under the "consent procedure", the European Parliament has the power to accept or reject a legislative proposal by an absolute majority vote, but cannot amend it.

Der Verteilschlüssel für Flüchtlinge innerhalb der EU sorgt für Ärger.

POZSONY. Lassan bár, de egyre inkább kitolódik az adószabadság napja, amely az idén június 5-én volt. A polgárok számára ez egyáltalán nem kedvező jelzés, hiszen azt mutatja: adóterheik egyre inkább növekednek – mutatott rá Farkas Iván, a Magyar Közösség Pártja gazdaságpolitikai alelnöke.

Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, said that the use of schoolbooks teaching about the Srebrenica genocide and the siege of Sarajevo will never be allowed.