Dimitris Avramopoulos, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship will be in Lisbon on 28 November to meet the directors of the nine EU agencies working in the area of Justice and Home Affairs (1). The event — hosted by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) as chair of the JHA agencies’ network this year — will take stock of the agencies’ joint achievements in 2017 and allow for an exchange of views on strategic developments. The EMCDDA will hand over its year-long presidency at the end of December to the Vilnius‑based European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) to steer the network in 2018.
The JHA agencies’ network was established in 2006 to boost cooperation in the migration and security fields. The nine agencies play key advisory, operational and coordination roles in implementing EU priorities in the areas of freedom, security and justice. The network plays an important part in improving the management of the EU’s external borders, developing effective asylum and return procedures, fighting organised crime and counteracting terrorism and cybercrime. The technical support of the JHA agencies is crucial for the implementation of the European Agenda on Migration and the European Agenda on Security.
During the meeting, the participants will discuss opportunities for enhanced inter-agency cooperation to support the EU institutions and Member States in responding to Europe’s challenges in the dynamic, and constantly evolving fields, of migration and security. The directors will also focus on issues related to the use of cyberspace for criminal purposes, the overarching theme of the network’s activities this year.
In the course of 2017, the network held several meetings identifying priority areas of work in analytical and operational fields, training, external relations and ICT. A conference was also organised in April on ‘The internet for criminal purposes — challenges and opportunities for the work of the JHA agencies’, to look at how cyberspace has influenced criminal activities and explore future issues such as monitoring darknets. The network’s achievements in 2017 will be presented later in the year to the Council’s Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security (COSI) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament.
In the margins of the meeting, a press conference will be held on 28 November to launch a new EMCDDA–Europol report: Drugs and the darknet: perspectives for enforcement, research and policy, in the presence of:
- Dimitris Avramopoulos, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship
- Rob Wainwright, Europol Executive Director
- Alexis Goosdeel, EMCDDA Director
Press conference: EMCDDA, Palacete do Relógio, Praça Europa 2, Cais do Sodré, 1249-289 Lisbon
Date: Tuesday 28 November 2017.
Time: 12:45 Western European Time/Lisbon time (13:45 Central European Time).
Language: The press conference will be conducted in English.
