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DE RUEHBS #0868/01 1611217
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091217Z JUN 08
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000868 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS PREL PREF SMIG KCRM EUN
SUBJECT: EU MINISTERS AGREE ON "RETURN DIRECTIVE" 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. EU Interior Ministers in the June 5 JHA Council recorded their 
agreement on common standards and procedures in Member States for 
returning illegally staying non-EU nationals (the "Return 
Directive").  The Council encouraged Member States to "voluntarily" 
take on refugees from Iraq, focusing on more vulnerable people, 
while underlining that protection should be provided primarily in 
the region itself.  Ministers approved the signing of a PNR 
agreement with Australia.  They set the date for moving to the 
second generation of the Schengen Information System (SIS II) at 
September 30, 2009.  They also agreed on modalities for implementing 
the "Pr|m Decision" on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation 
and welcomed priorities set by CT coordinator Gilles de Kerckhove 
for ongoing implementation of the EU counter-terrorism strategy and 
action plan.  Full text of Council conclusions has been transmitted 
to EUR/ERA and can be found on the EU Council website 
(http://consilium.europa.eu).  END SUMMARY. 
 
RETURN DIRECTIVE 
---------------- 
 
¶2.  EU Interior Ministers in the June 5 JHA Council meeting in 
Luxembourg recorded their agreement on the draft Directive setting 
common standards and procedures in Member States for returning 
illegally staying non-EU nationals (the "Return Directive").  The 
draft, which is subject to co-decision by the Council and European 
Parliament (EP), will leave unaffected the procedural safeguards for 
asylum seekers, already regulated in another EU Directive.  The new 
piece of legislation was depicted by EU officials as ensuring a more 
harmonized and effective approach to return procedures, while 
respecting the rights of non-EU migrants in an illegal situation. 
Detention will only be permitted where other less coercive measures 
cannot be applied and will require a decision in writing with 
reasons in fact and in law.  Detention shall be for as short a 
period as possible and only maintained as long as removal 
arrangements are in progress.  Several NGOs nevertheless criticized 
provisions allowing for migrants to be detained for up to 18 months 
(in exceptional circumstances only, the normal limitation being six 
months) and to face a re-entry ban of up to 5 years. 
 
¶3.  A compromise tabled by the Slovenian Presidency previously 
gained support from a qualified-majority of Member States at May 22 
COREPER (EU PermReps).  Since then, one outstanding issue (the 
question of legal assistance to detained migrants) was the subject 
of further discussions conducted by the Slovenian Presidency with 
Member States and key EP members, which produced a revised overall 
compromise that was easily rubber-stamped by all delegations in the 
June 5 Council.  The solution - changing the wording of the disputed 
provision by stating that Member States "should" (instead of "may") 
provide legal assistance to detained migrants - was reached thanks 
to a declaration by the Commission, which proposed to have recourse 
to EU funds available under the European Refugee Fund.  This will 
make it possible to finance the provision of judicial assistance in 
cost-minded Member States (Germany, Austria), while meeting the EP's 
concerns related to migrants' rights.  Slovenian Interior 
Minister/Council chair Dragutin Mate told reporters he was confident 
the overall compromise would be approved by the whole European 
Parliament in a June 18 vote, which would make it possible to adopt 
the Directive at first reading. 
 
¶4.  Commission Vice-President Barrot urged critics of the draft 
piece of legislation to be fair in their assessment.  According to 
Barrot, the revised draft was providing guarantees that "should be 
sufficient to allay the fears of NGOs and churches."  Barrot 
nevertheless called on Member States to pay particular attention to 
the rights of the child when implementing the Directive.  He made it 
clear that "the Commission intends to pay very close attention to 
that aspect." 
 
RESSETLEMENT OF IRAQI REFUGEES 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  Per request of the German delegation, the Council addressed the 
resettlement of refugees from Iraq in the EU.  A non-paper tabled by 
German Interior Minister Scha|ble called on the EU, "in the light of 
the ongoing widespread insecurity, violence and violation of human 
rights in Iraq," to help resettle people in need of protection, 
according to press reports.  Speaking at a post-Council press 
conference, Slovenian minister/Council chair Mate said the Council 
did not discuss numbers but encouraged Member States to "voluntarily 
take refugees on board," focusing on resettlement opportunities for 
vulnerable persons from Iraq in need of protection like women and 
children.  Mate noted that some ministers underlined that protection 
should continue to be provided primarily in the region itself, 
pointing out that "the resettlement of one person in the EU costs as 
much as 100 persons receiving assistance in the region." 
 
¶6.  The Council conclusions further welcomed the contributions that 
 
BRUSSELS 00000868  002 OF 003 
 
 
Member States are already providing by giving financial assistance 
to the region, by hosting asylum seekers and refugees from Iraq and 
by resettling refugees under national programs.  Member States were 
"asked to cooperate with UNHCR and other relevant organizations and 
players in the region in the implementation of resettlement."  The 
Commission will review the possibilities for the resettlement of 
Iraqi refugees to be funded under existing programs such as the 
European Refugee Fund.  Scha|ble separately told reporters he hoped 
that an EU-wide agreement on specific resettlement measures could be 
reached by September at the latest.  While expressing the EU's 
willingness to "help people in distress" and his expectation for 
concrete measures to be adopted, Mate openly voiced doubts it will 
be possible for the EU-27 to reach the necessary consensus. 
 
PNR AGREEMENT WITH AUSTRALIA 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7.  The Council approved the signing of the Agreement between the EU 
and Australia 
on the processing and transfer of EU-sourced passenger name record 
(PNR) data to the Australian 
Customs Service.  The agreement, which follows on similar deals with 
the U.S. and Canada, contains "detailed assurances for the 
protection of PNR data transferred from the EU concerning passenger 
flights to or from Australia," according to the Council conclusions. 
 Commission Vice-President Barrot said negotiations made it possible 
to ensure that the transmission of data would be restricted to the 
competent authorities through the so-called "push system." 
Australia and the EU will periodically review the implementation of 
the agreement and take any action deemed necessary in the light of 
such review. 
 
SCHENGEN DEVELOPMENTS 
--------------------- 
 
¶8.  The Council and the Schengen Mixed Committee (EU members plus 
Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) noted the state of 
play with respect to preparations and schedule for the introduction 
of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).  The 
date for moving from SIS 1 + to SIS II was set at September 30, 
¶2009.  Commission Vice-President Barrot said respect of the 
timetable would be subject to "a clear delineation of 
responsibilities, a totally unambiguous decision-making process, and 
the setting of binding deadlines." 
 
¶9.  The Council approved a decision on the application of the 
provisions of the Schengen "acquis" relating to the SIS in 
Switzerland.  The decision allows for SIS data to be transferred to 
Switzerland (from June 9, 2008) and for Switzerland to enter data 
into the SIS and use SIS data (from  August 14, 2008). 
 
EXTENSION OF LONG-TERM RESIDENCE STATUS 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  The Council remained split on a proposal for the extension of 
long-term resident status (enjoyed by those residing more than 5 
years in a Member State) to refugees and persons benefiting from 
subsidiary protection.  A majority of delegations backed the 
inclusion of both categories in the scope of the Directive, without 
any difference of treatment between them but some delegations argued 
for limiting the scope of the extension to refugees only.  The 
Presidency, noting that the necessary unanimity to adopt the 
directive could not be reached, concluded that the negotiations 
would be pursued under the French Presidency. 
 
IMPLEMENTING PRUM DECISION 
-------------------------- 
 
¶11.  The Council reached agreement on a Decision laying down the 
necessary administrative and technical provisions for the 
implementation of a Decision on the stepping up of cross-border 
cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border 
crime (the "Pr|m Decision").  The implementing Decision will 
establish common normative provisions (details in Council press 
release) seen as indispensable for administrative and technical 
implementation of the forms of cooperation set out in the Pr|m 
Decision, especially for the automated exchange of DNA data, 
dactyloscopic data and vehicle registration data. 
 
COUNTER-TERRORISM: REPORT BY CT COORDINATOR 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12.  EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerckhove presented 
to the Council his report on the implementation of the EU strategy 
and action plan to combat terrorism as well as his priorities for 
further action in the field.  The report (full text transmitted to 
ERA) takes stock of progress since December 2007 and the state of 
play regarding ratification of Conventions and implementation of 
relevant EU pieces of legislation.  According to the Council's 
conclusions, the Council expressed its appreciation for de 
 
BRUSSELS 00000868  003 OF 003 
 
 
Kerckhove's analysis and "shared his views on the proposals that he 
made to concentrate work in the coming months on the prevention of 
radicalization and on the identification of technical assistance to 
Northern Africa/Sahel and Pakistan." 
 
¶13.  The Council reached a political agreement on a Directive 
concerning the identification and designation of European Critical 
Infrastructure (ECI) and the assessment of the need to improve their 
protection. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 
------------- 
 
¶14.  Among other items, the Council adopted conclusions on: 
 
-- The management of the EU's external borders; 
 
-- Enhancing the EU's "global approach" to migration; 
 
-- Possible cooperation mechanism between civilian ESDP missions and 
EUROPOL concerning mutual exchange of information; 
 
-- Cooperation with candidate countries and potential candidates of 
Western Balkans in the area of civil defense. 
 
¶15.  On the fringes of the Council, the EU signed joint declarations 
on a "mobility partnership" with Moldova and Cape Verde.  Such 
mobility partnerships are designed to better manage migration flows 
by facilitating legal migration and fighting against illegal 
immigration, while promoting capacity building in the partner 
countries. 
 
MURRAY