About: justice and home affairs Archives

Judges in Bulgaria are sanctioned not when they commit a violation, but when they disobey, writes Ivanka Ivanova.

The European Commission yesterday (27 March) launched a scoreboard to compare the justice systems of member states in a bid to assess how courts can affect economic growth.

José Manuel Barroso’s congratulatory message following the recent parliamentary election in Romania carries two important messages: it tells President Traian B?sescu that he should re-appoint Victor Ponta as prime minister, and warns Ponta he should work with B?sescu instead of reviving efforts to impeach him.

The head of the EU anti-fraud office OLAF, Giovanni Kessler, pleaded yesterday (5 December) for the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office as a formal EU institution.

The UK's intended opt-out from EU cooperation on police and criminal matters will be the “elephant in the room” at the two-day meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers beginning today (25 October), diplomats told EURACTIV.

EU foreign affairs ministers decided yesterday (26 June) to open accession negotiations with Montenegro on Friday, coinciding with the Union's leadership summit.

MEPs applauded a motion approving Croatia's EU membership on 1 July 2013, after passing it yesterday (1 December) by a large majority in the European Parliament. EU heads of states are expected to sign the Accession Treaty at next week's summit in Brussels.

Following a dinner of EU foreign ministers yesterday (23 May), contradictory statements were made regarding Croatia's last few miles on the road to EU accession.

The European Commission will propose today (18 May) a package of measures aimed at boosting the protection of the 30 million citizens who every year fall victims of crime in the European Union.

Fourteen EU member states earlier this week (12 July) used a pioneering cooperation law to press ahead with plans to simplify divorce rules for couples of different nationalities.

After rejecting an earlier version in February, the European Parliament approved a revised EU-US bank-data sharing deal yesterday (8 July), asserting its new-found role in the EU's institutional power game under the Lisbon Treaty.

The European Parliament is tomorrow (8 July) expected to rubber-stamp a revised EU-US agreement on bank data-sharing, called 'SWIFT', that is set to give significant new powers of oversight to US anti-terror investigators. Some MEPs feel, however, that the ongoing saga represents "misuse" of parliamentary power.

Bulgaria and Romania have both moved closer to Schengen area as the European Commission today (14 June) marks the 25th anniversary of the Schengen Agreement, providing for the gradual abolition of frontier checks at their common borders with other EU countries.

Bulgaria and Romania's EU accession in January 2007 was accompanied by a monitoring mechanism designed to guide those countries' progress in the field of law enforcement, but Croatia should join without such a tool, Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Štefan Füle told EURACTIV in an interview.

MEPs today (21 January) clashed with EU ministers, calling for a delay to the entry into force of the so-called SWIFT agreement, a EU-US deal maintaining the transfer of EU citizens' banking data to US investigators.

Swedish Commissioner-designate for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström gave a steady account to the European Parliament in a confirmation hearing yesterday (19 January), but was accused by some MEPs of lacking ambition in her proposals.

Reinforcing citizens' rights will be a top priority in the coming years, said Viviane Reding, the EU's commissioner-designate for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, at a parliamentary hearing yesterday (12 January), voicing her opposition to body scanners at airports.

Viviane Reding, the EU's new commissioner for justice and fundamental rights, is planning ambitious reforms for her mandate including the introduction of a European Civil Code and a major revamp of EU data protection rules.

The Swedish EU Presidency's proposals for a new justice and home affairs agenda, adopted by European heads of state and government at their meeting in Brussels last week (10-11 December), should lead to much-needed action in areas such as immigration and asylum, experts told EURACTIV.

The European Parliament yesterday (25 November) approved the Swedish EU Presidency's proposals for the next five-year plan on EU justice and home affairs. But MEPs failed to agree on controversial same-sex rights, while Italian MEPs secured an add-on to get extra funding for overcrowded prisons.

People in Europe facing criminal proceedings outside of their country of residence will be able to receive free interpretation and translations of procedural documents in their native language, justice ministers agreed last week (23 October).

The EU is helping to secure five thousand kilometres of extra internal borders in the Western Balkans, which have appeared following the collapse of former Yugoslavia, the European Court of Auditors said in Brussels yesterday (13 October).

MEPs last week (8 October) debated the Swedish EU Presidency's proposed new programme for freedom, security and justice in the EU. The plans, which are in line with Sweden's progressive national policies, were welcomed by liberal MEPs but described as weak on immigration by southern Europeans.

As Sweden prepares to assume the EU's rotating presidency on 1 July, business, civil society and human rights groups alike are lobbying Stockholm to find a way out of the financial, economic and climate crises by promoting structural reform and ambitious policies.