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Minister of Justice and Public Order Anna Koukkidi-Prokopiou attended the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council which took place in Luxembourg on 8 and 9 June 2023. Before the start of the Council's proceedings, the Minister met at the premises of the Court of Justice of the European Union with the Cypriot judges Mr. Konstantinos Lykourgos, Mr. Savvas Papasavvas and Ms. Anna Markoullis, as well as the Attorney General Mr. Nicolas Aimiliou.
During the discussion at the Home Affairs Council on 8 June, issues were discussed on which it was recognised that impetus was needed for more effective governance of the Schengen area. These issues were the need for an agreement between Member States to decide on the full participation of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen area, the creation of a more effective system for the return of third country nationals illegally present on EU territory, the strengthening of police cooperation in the fight against organised cross-border serious crime, the strengthening of police cooperation in the fight against organised cross-border crime and the strengthening of the fight against organised crime. They authorised the opening of tripartite dialogues with the European Parliament on several draft legislative directives. These concern the amendment of the Trafficking in Persons Directive to include forced marriage, illegal adoptions and the voluntary use of services by trafficked persons in the definition of criminal offences. An amended proposal for a directive on violence against women and their intimate partners was also agreed in order to transpose the substantive provisions of the Istanbul Convention into EU law. Justice Ministers also took a position on a text of Conclusions on the safety of LGBTI persons, with Poland and Hungary the only dissenters, resulting in their non-adoption.
There was also an in-depth discussion on the issue of investigating and prosecuting violations of EU restrictive measures in relation to Russian aggression against Ukraine. In her intervention, Ms. Koukkidi Prokopiou referred to the sanctions implementation mechanism in the Republic of Cyprus, adding that a new independent authority for monitoring and enforcement of sanctions is in the process of being established. She noted that 15 cases are under investigation by the Police of the Republic of Cyprus while the main difficulties are the collection of evidence from non-EU jurisdictions. He recommended the exchange of good practices between Member States, as well as with Europol and Eurojust. Views were also exchanged on balancing the effective investigation of organised crime and human rights offences from a judicial perspective.
The Minister will return to Cyprus tomorrow, Saturday 10 June.
(AF)
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