On 30 June 2007, the German Presidency and the first stage of the German, Portuguese and Slovenian trio Presidency will come to a close.

Holding the EU Council Presidency is both a special privilege and a special challenge for each Member State. Therefore it is all the more helpful that, for the first time in the history of the European Union, three successive Council Presidencies cooperate, thus enabling them to implement a common programme on an ongoing basis.

Establishing Europe as an area of freedom, security and justice was one of the priorities of our common presidency programme. After the successful establishment of the Single Market, home affairs and security policy are the areas where Europe is bound to develop most dynamically in the years to come. There are many related issues which we can only tackle when acting jointly. How do we prevent international terrorism, and how can we protect us against it? How to combat cross-border organized crime? And how can we assure that people no longer risk their lives, seeking to enter the European Union?
We can only reach this aim by cooperating and sharing information. Our horizons have vastly expanded over the past years as the world has been turning into a global village. The same is true for criminals. For this reason we need police and security agencies whose findings do not stop at national borders.  

Our foremost goal during the German Presidency was therefore to strengthen practical police cooperation and information sharing. In the future, all 27 Member States will have access to DNA and fingerprint data stored by other Member States. Previously, mutual access had already been possible among seven Member States which had concluded what is known as the Prüm Treaty, a multi-lateral convention adopted in the German town of Prüm. The transposition of that treaty into European law is an important breakthrough. In the first weeks after the conclusion of the treaty, data exchange between Austria, Spain, Luxembourg and Germany has already produced over 3,700 hits in open investigation cases. In several cases, serious offenders were arrested.  

We also managed to reach agreement about a central database for visa applications filed throughout the Schengen area. When a new application comes in, it will now be easy to check whether the person concerned has already applied for a visa in another Member State. To better fight terrorism and illegal migration we also strengthened the central European security agencies – such as the European police agency Europol and the European border management agency Frontex – by extending their competences.

Another important issue of the German Presidency was to launch an initiative concerning the future of European home affairs policy. The 2004 Hague Programme sets out the objectives for the time leading up to 2010. However, now is the time to think about what should happen afterwards. What will be the challenges of the years to come? What are our objectives? We have therefore set up a small informal group comprising ia, the upcoming seven Presidencies and the Commission.  The group will present its recommendations in autumn 2008.

In the last minute of the German Presidency compromise could be reached with the American government on its demand to collect certain data on each flight passenger in order to prevent terrorists from entering the United States. The new provisions will replace the existing interim agreement, expiring on 31st of July. They will ensure legal certainty for all European travellers, regulating clearly which data will be saved and how they will be protected.

On the 1st of July, Portugal will assume the Presidency of the European Council. In the last few months, Over the next six months our main priority.  will be the implementation of the SISone4ALL project, thus allowing the full application of the Schengen Acquis and the consequent lifting of controls in the internal borders of the European Union. According to the current schedule, this may already be the case by the end of 2007

This achievement will allow millions of citizens of Member States participating in the SISone4ALL project to move freely within the European Union, thus contributing to the strengthening of our area of freedom, security and justice.

The implementation of the Global Approach to Migration focusing on Africa and the Mediterranean as well as to Eastern and Southeastern regions will remain a top priority of the Portuguese Presidency. This global and balanced approach includes the promotion of legal immigration channels, co-development, and fight against illegal immigration and trafficking of human beings. To this purpose, a Euromed Ministerial Meeting on Migration, a  major conference for Member States and Euromed partners, will be held in Algarve on the 18th and 19th of November.

Furthermore, full attention will be given to the promotion of legal channels of migration. In this regard Portugal will organize a High Level Conference on Legal Migration on the 13th and 14th of September.

An integrated border management system is an essential tool to better manage migration flows. Under German Presidency it was agreed to establish rapid border intervention teams composed of border police officers from the Member States to swiftly assist them in high-impact situations. The Portuguese Presidency will focus on the implementation of these rapid border intervention teams (RABITS), the development of the European Border Patrols Network and the creation of the European system of surveillance of the South Maritime borders. 

Fight against terrorism remains a top priority of the European agenda.  Portugal will further advance in the implementation of  the European Strategy on Counter Terrorism, working on its  four headings – prevent, protect, pursue and respond. Special attention will be given to the enhancement of security of explosives. A Conference on the Security of Explosives will be held in Portugal on the 16th and 17th of July, as a contribution to the adoption of an «European Action Plan on Enhancing the Security of Explosives».

Making the EU more secure is also the objective for the work that will be undertaken in the field of Bio-Preparedness.

From January 2008 onwards, the Slovenian Presidency will continue the work on these issues, with special focus on the project of extending the Schengen area. According to the common program the border checks in the airports of new Schengen states will be lifted by the end of March 2008. With this, the goal of the trio Presidencies in this area will be achieved. In parallel, Slovenia will monitor closely the development of the second generation of the Schengen Information System (SIS II) that is programmed to be ready by the end of 2008.