Birchall: JHA Council's agenda - of particular interest in terms of strengthening EU's freedom, security, justice areas

The topics debated within the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council are of particular interest in terms of strengthening the EU's area of freedom, security and justice, continuing the discussions initiated by the Romanian Presidency and increasing mutual trust between the member states, Justice Minister Ana Birchall said on Tuesday, after attending Monday's meeting of the JHA Council, in Luxembourg, in the context of Finland's presidency of the Council of the European Union. 

"For Romania, the issues related to combating cross-border crime through Eurojust, electronic evidence, and the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office are particularly important. All these measures through which we want to strengthen mutual trust between the judicial authorities of the member states have, in their turn, been priorities of the Presidency of Romania of the EU Council," stressed Minister Ana Birchall in her speech, according to a release of the Ministry of Justice issued for AGERPRES. 

Minister Ana Birchall welcomed the Presidency's request to address the issue of EU anti-corruption measures, a very important topic, with ramifications in many of the Union's policies. 

"Romania is among the most consistent supporters of EU accession to GRECO as a full member of this organization. Moreover, in the mandate of the Romanian Presidency to the Council, the European Union joined GRECO as an observer. It is not enough: if the Union wants to be a world leader in the fight against corruption, then the EU must become a full member of GRECO, be able to participate in the evaluation of the member states, but be evaluated too," said the Romanian minister within the exchange of views on EU measures to fight corruption. 

The Justice minister welcomed the adoption of the Council Conclusions on Eurojust, as proposed by the Finnish Presidency, and "noted with satisfaction that they are not only complementary to the Council Conclusions on the Synergies between Eurojust and the networks established by the Council in the field of judicial cooperation in the field of criminal justice," adopted at our previous meeting, at the initiative of the Romanian Presidency of the Council, but they also refer to them," reads the said release . 

The Romanian official showed that, given the tangible results of its activity in the fight against serious forms of crime, Eurojust deserves adequate funding and congratulated Eurojust and Denmark for the conclusion of the cooperation agreement between them. 

On the sidelines of the JHA Council meeting, Justice Minister Ana Birchall had meetings with her counterparts from Denmark and Sweden, Nick Haekkerup and Morgan Johansson respectively, as well as with the European Commissioner for Migration, Internal Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitros Avramopoulos.