EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 3 and 4 December 2015
04 December 2015
See:
"B" Points agenda (for discussion, pdf),
"A" Points agenda: legislative (adopted without discussion, pdf) and
"A" Points agenda: non-legislative, adopted without discussion, pdf) see:
Background briefing (pdf)
Final Press release: 3-4 December (pdf)
All Member States think mass surveillance 'is still allowed'. Majority want new EU proposal. Will the Council never learn? Justice and Home Affairs Council; 3 December:
"Data retention: The Council had a general discussion on the consequences of the invalidation of the Data Retention Directive by the European Court of Justice in April 2014. All member states considered that retaining bulk electronic communication data in a generalized manner is still allowed. A majority of delegations also considered that an EU-wide approach has to be considered in order to put an end to the fragmentation of the legal framework on data retention across the EU, and invited the Commission to present a new legislative initiative whenever possible."
The Council also "took note" of a progress report:
Migration crisis: aspects of judicial cooperation and fight against xenophobia - progress report (pdf).
And discussing putting Schengen on hold for two years:
Integrity of the Schengen area, LIMITE doc: 14300-15, (pdf)
plus:
Regulation: establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third country national or a stateless person - State of play (pdf):
"During these discussions, a number of delegations raised general scrutiny reservations and reiterated their positions according to which they consider that it would be preferable to evaluate the functioning of the temporary emergency relocation schemes, adopted by the Council on 14 and 22 September3, before the discussion on the proposal on the crisis relocation mechanism continues.
They are of the view that shortcomings in the implementation of the relocation decisions, including the functioning of the hotspots and the prevention of secondary movements, should be addressed as a matter of urgency." [emphasis added]
and:
Conclusions of the Council and the Representatives of the governments of the Member States on Statelessness (pdf): were adopted:
While:
"Recalling: that the right to a nationality is a fundamental right recognised by Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that this is one of the basic principles of the 1997 European Convention of Nationality...."
These non-binding Conclusions simply:
"Invite: the Commission to launch exchanges of good practices among Member States..."