First of all, let me start by saying how delighted I am to have made my first foreign trip as European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, here in the United States of America.Europe and the United States are longstanding allies and partners. We share the same fundamental values: freedom, peace, democracy.
Our joint meeting here today is another concrete example of how together we can be more effective in upholding and defending our common values.Needless to say, the relations between the EU and the US in the Justice and Home Affairs area are very rich and reflect the strategic character of our partnership.Not surprisingly, our meeting this morning with Attorney General Eric Holder and his team was very productive. I also had a very fruitful meeting yesterday with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson which helped make today’s meeting a success.
Today we discussed the future of the EU – US relations in the Justice and Home Affairs area, which we intend to further develop and strengthen during the next five years.
The two main topics in the Home Affairs area in our agenda were the foreign fighters phenomenon and organised crime. Both are burning issues in Europe and America. And both integrate aspects of our cooperation stretching into areas such security, information exchange, border management, and visa policy. We looked into how we can better exchange information involving, Europol, and to see how our respective law enforcement agencies can better cooperate and use the available tools even more efficiently.
In Europe, our law enforcement agencies have a strong track record. Just yesterday, in Cologne Germany, nine people suspected of supporting ISIS and other extremists were arrested, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the German authorities for their excellent work. The arrests in Germany also underscore the importance of our joint work here today. We both recognize the necessity to strengthen our cooperation and coordination; in fact, it’s a prerequisite if we want to succeed in containing ISIS and foreign fighters.
Again, in the context of foreign fighters, we touched on its impact on mobility between EU and US citizens. The European Union is following closely the discussion in the US and especially those who are calling for a more restrictive approach toward the visa waiver programme. I fully understand these concerns. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that all relevant authorities will offer a proportionate response to the issue at hand, which will not hinder the travel of bona fide travellers.
I also hope that our common work on the enlargement of the visa waiver programme will not be affected and that we will soon achieve full reciprocity between the EU and the US. Full visa reciprocity should become a tangible example which underscores the importance of our strategic partnership.
Moreover, in the absence of Commissioner Věra Jourova, I also discussed with my American colleagues a number of Justice-related issues.
We focused primarily on Data Protection issues and the ongoing umbrella agreement negotiations. We shall be more than happy to see the US adopting legislation on judicial redress, and we shall also be happy to finalise all the other open points in our negotiations.
Our teams will continue the negotiations tomorrow and I hope we will achieve progress.
We should also continue to urgently work to address the shortcomings of the safe harbour arrangement.
We have also had some good exchanges on mutual legal assistance. It is vital that our agreements in this area (including extradition) really work and that we use their full potential. This is the only way to be able to address effectively the challenges of organised crime.
Of course the topics that we discussed today did not cover all aspects of our cooperation. Other issues like drugs, migration, more efficient border checks or victims’ rights also require our attention and will be the subject of our discussions in the future.
On behalf of the European Commission, I look forward to a close and constructive relationship with Attorney General Holder and his successor as well as with Secretary Johnson.
I also look forward to welcoming our American colleagues, together with Commissioner Jourová, at our next EU-US Justice and Home Affairs meeting early next year.