The last formal Council meeting on Justice and Home Affairs under the Danish Presidency was held on 7-8 June 2012, in Luxembourg. On the first day of the meeting home affairs issues were on agenda. Károly Kontrát, Parliamentary State Secretary was the Head of the Hungarian delegation of the Ministry of Interior.

Based on the half-year evaluation report of the Committee - prepared for the first time - Ministers of Home Affairs discussed the most significant security challenges affecting the Schengen area. Ministers reaffirmed Schengen acquis, free travel of citizens and preservation of integrity of the Schengen area as a priority. Accordingly, it was emphasized that re-introduction of internal border controls must remain only in special cases – serious, protracted problems - a measure of last reason, assistance of the EU and the Member States should be used before. Reasons for re-introduction could be protection of public order and internal security. Re-introduction may last for up to six months for the remedy of the problems. It can be extended three times and used in the Member State concerned.

In order to avoid unilateral decisions proposal should be adopted in joint decision-making process with qualified majority in the Council of the European Union. European Parliament will need to agree to adopt legislation which will be a significant task for the Cyprus EU Presidency in the second half of 2012. New rules can enter into force then.

The Commission submitted a proposal for the amendment of the EURODAC Regulation which would grant law enforcement agencies access to the EURODAC database. Hungary welcomed this initiative.

On 8 March 2012, the Justice and Home Affairs Council approved Council Conclusions on a practical solidarity towards Member States most affected by migratory pressure. The Presidency took into account the solidarity instruments in the field of migration and asylum proposed by Member States and EU agencies and identified areas where additional solidarity instruments needed to be applied. Ministers also discussed how Greece could be supported in the areas of asylum, border management and migration.

Hungary supported the Danish Presidency to conclude EU-Turkey readmission agreement as soon as possible in order to develop cooperation with Turkey in this area.

The EU Counter-terrorism coordinator prepares discussion paper about the evaluation of current challenges every six months and presents it to the Justice and Home Affairs Council. The most recent discussion paper focuses on seven areas and incorporates recommendations as an annex. Two years review of United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy –which was adopted in 2006 - took place on 28-29 June 2012 in New York. In addition to the EU position to be set out for the meeting, the document focuses on counter-radicalization, radicalization prevention and on human rights.

Participants of 2011 EU-USA summit endorse continuous fight against child sexual abuse online as an important common goal for 2012. The Committee proposed to establish a global alliance which aims to promote countries to take effective and active action against child pornography and exploitation of children. Appropriate political objectives are indispensible to realize these measures. Aim of the Council Conclusions is to lay the foundations for the alliance on the EU-USA ministerial meeting which will be held on 20-21 June 2012. At the initiative of the Commission EU-USA alliance will be established soon and India, Canada, South-Africa, Australia and Russia are expected to join it in the near future too.

The importance of Europol Information System is that competent police organizations of EU Member States share current information on several cross border crimes that facilitate effective law enforcement. One of its most important instruments at EU level is the Europol Information System. Therefore in our view increased and efficient use of Europol Information System could contribute to the successful fight against cross-border crime. Accordingly, Hungary supports the adoption of the Council Conclusions.

(Ministry of Interior, Press Department)