Director attends Justice and Home Affairs agencies’ network meeting in Vilnius

Director Alexis Goosdeel is today attending the Heads of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) agencies’ network meeting in Vilnius, hosted by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

The JHA agencies’ network was established in 2006 to boost cooperation in the migration and security fields and to develop synergies in areas of common interest, such as operational work, training and external relations. The network brings together nine EU agencies (CEPOL, EASO, EIGE, EMCDDA, eu-LISA, Eurojust, Europol, FRA and Frontex).

The task of chairing the group rotates among its members. EIGE took over the presidency from the EMCDDA in 2018 and will hand over to Europol in 2019.

Today’s meeting brings together European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Věra Jourová, the Heads of the JHA agencies and high-level officials from the EU institutions to review the priorities set for the group this year. These include work to: improve the network’s capacity to respond to the changing situation in the areas of migration and internal security; and develop the means to improve information exchange in the network. The participants will also take a closer look at the opportunities and challenges of digitalisation for society as well as the work of the agencies in the fields of justice, migration and security.

The JHA agencies report to the European Council’s Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security (COSI) regarding progress on bilateral and multilateral cooperation. In line with this requirement, aformal reporton the achievements of 2018 will be presented to COSI by the end of the year.

Europol has already identified priority areas for 2019. These include a joint strategic reflection on how cooperation between the JHA agencies can contribute to development of the EU security architecture