Czech Presidency of the EU - News

Press releases and photos about current activities of the Ministry of Interior and its representatives during the Czech Presidency of the EU 

February 2009

Seminar

• Brussels, 25th February 2009 - The Czech Presidency in cooperation with the European Commision organized a working-seminar about the use of the Passenger Name Record in the fight against the illegal migration. During this event the Czech Republic, Spain and Great Britain presented their experience with the practical use of analysis of the information about the passengers for protecting the borders. The seminar was attended by the members of the 19 EU member states, Switzerland and the Frontex, and it achieved positive critics among the participants. Those in it appreciated the possibility of getting the information necessary for the implementation of the solution required for the collection and analysis of the Passenger Name Record on the national level.
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Family photo of CEPOL Board 

• Prague,23rd– 24th February  2009 - The 15th meeting of the Governing Board of the CEPOL (European Police College) took place in Prague. It was attended by the members of the European Commission and the EUROPOL and it was led by the director of the Czech Department of the Police Education JUDr. Helena Tomková. The main points of the discussion were the planned educational and training activities of the CEPOL, the modernization of the structure of the agency and the proposal of the agency budget for the year 2010.
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Seminar in Brussels

• Brussels, 25th February - The Czech Presidency in cooperation with the European Commision organized a working-seminar about the use of the Passenger Name Record in the fight against the illegal migration. During this event the Czech Republic, Spain and Great Britain presented their experience with the practical use of analysis of the information about the passengers for protecting the borders. The seminar was attended by the members of the 19 EU member states, Switzerland and the Frontex, and it achieved positive critics among the participants. Those in it appreciated the possibility of getting the information necessary for the implementation of the solution required for the collection and analysis of the Passenger Name Record on the national level. The Czech Presidency was represented by the deputies of the Department of Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior, deputies of the Security Policy Department and by the members of the headquarters of the Czech Alien Police Service.
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Participants 

• Vienna, 23rd February - The conference on “Guidelines for the Collection of Data on Trafficking in Human Beings, Including Comparable Indicators” took place on 23rd February. The Czech Republic was represented by the Czech Interior Minister, Ivan Langer, and the employees of the Security Policy Department of the Ministry of the Interior. Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission, and the Ministers of the Interior or Justice from some EU member states took also part in the discussion.
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Bilateral Talks - Vienna

• Vienna, 23rd February - The bilateral talks between the Czech Minister of the Interior, Ivan Langer, and the Austrian Federal Minister of the Interior, Maria Fekter, took place on the 23rd February. They addressed the issue of Schengen Information System II (SIS II), especially the form of the cooperation for implementation of the Czech Presidency plan.
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Turkey

• Turkey, 16th and 17th February 2009 - The Second Preparatory meeting for Ministerial Conference “Building Migration Partnerships” took place in Antalya, Turkey. The living and fruitful discussion conducted during the meeting dramatically improved quality of the draft declaration based on the Prague Preparatory gathering. The number of delegates as well as participating countries has even grown up to 101 delegates from 51 states and international organisations. Such a rich participation shows a positive approach of the involved states to the Czech initiative.
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CZ PRESs NEWS No. 3

• Prague, 16th February - The latest issue of the CZ PRESs NEWS newsletter informing about the events connected with the Czech Presidency has just come out. You can read a report from the Informal Meeting of the EU and the USA where the main topic was the long-term cooperation between the EU and the USA and a report from the European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN) Meeting.  It also contains an introduction to the one of the priorities of the Ministry of the Interior for the Presidency – the Rational Drug Policy. You should not miss an interview with the Head of Crime Prevention Department Jitka Gjuričová.
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Members of the commission

• Switzerland, 9 -13 February 2009, the fulfillment of the Schengen standards at Swiss international airports was being evaluated as a precondition for the abolition of border checks at internal Schengen flights. This Schengen evaluation re-visit was carried out by a team of 15 Member States experts - including the Czech Republic. Its main goal was to verify fulfillment of recommendations arising from previous evaluation in August 2008 which concern various aspects of air border control, especially infrastructure of airports and border control procedure. In case of a positive result of this evaluation, integration of Switzerland into Schengen area will be completed on 29 March 2009, thus concluding process of abolishing border checks launched on 12 December 2008 with lifting border checks on persons at Swiss land borders. The minister of the Interior of the Czech Republic Ivan Langer will inform his colleagues about the findings on the meeting of the JHA which will take place 26.2. 2009.
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Participants

• Prague, 6th February - The informal meeting between the EU and the USA took place in Prague on 5th and 6th February. The subjects of the meeting were topics of a long-term cooperation between the EU and the USA. The participants discussed topics of the missing children warning system (so-called Child Alert), the question of abusing the Internet to help extremism and terrorism and at the end they debated the information about new developments in the area of the visa policy and securing the borders. One of the points of this meeting was also the preparation for the meeting of Troika, which will take place in April 2009, in Prague.
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Participants of CEPOL
Strategy Comitee meeting

• Prague, 5th February - The meeting of Strategy Committee CEPOL (European Police College) took place on February 5th. The main topics included especially an annual programme, a new structure of agency and proposals to this structure. Suggestions were discussed at the meeting of broader Troika.
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Overview of the hall

• The Castle of Zbiroh, 5th February – In the days of 3rd and 4th February meeting of the Board of the European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN) took place at the Castle of Zbiroh. The board is a top organ of this institution and consists of national representatives at the position of policy makers from all the EU countries. The purpose of the meeting is to become acquainted with analysis of actual situation in the area of organized crime inside Europe and finding preventative activities. The board meets on the principle of rotation, so in the first six months of the year 2009 it is the Czech Republic which presides. All agenda is in a competency of a Ministry of the Interior, Crime Prevention Department.
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Frontex meeting of executive
council members

• Prague, 4th February – Meeting of the executive council of Frontex (European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders) took place in The Prague Congress Centre. The Czech priorities in the area of internal affairs and border security were presented at this meeting. Frontex, the EU agency based in Warsaw, was created as a specialized and independent body tasked to coordinate the operational cooperation between Member States in the field of border security. The Czech Republic was represented by Col. Mgr. Vladislav Husák, the director of Police of the Czech Republic Foreign Police.
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CZ PRESs NEWS No. 2

• Prague, 4th February - The second issue of a newsletter CZ PRESs NEWS focused on events and activities of the Ministry of the Interior during Czech Presidency has just been released. This time you can find there a report from the EU Parliament Committees in Brussels where Minister Ivan Langer introduced the priorities of the Ministry of the Interior, an interview with Deputy Minister, Lenka Ptáčková Melicharová and a presentation of one of our priorities – protection of children.
  Download here (pdf, 765 kB)

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