On 22 November 2019, the Heads of the nine EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) agencies, including eu-LISA, met in The Hague, to discuss the state-of-play and the Agencies' joint efforts in building interoperability - an effort to link together the several information systems operating EU level that provide border guards as well as immigration and law enforcement officers with relevant information on security threats.
eu-LISA LISA Executive Director Krum Garkov highlighted the ongoing preparations and future developments for the new JHA information architecture for border management and internal security. He noted that today the EU faces an important challenge: to stay open while also maintaining a high level of security. This is getting even more challenging as the shift from physical to virtual security becomes more apparent. Building interoperability is an iterative process, with multiple dependencies. Krum Garkov emphasised the need for continuous coordination and cooperation between the JHA Agencies, Commission and Member States, common standards in research and development, as well as a redesign of the work processes and procedures.
The discussions of the Heads of the Agencies, hosted by the 2019 Chair of the JHA Network - Europol, also covered the implementation of the New Strategic Agenda 2019-2024 and common efforts in reinforcing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The Agencies’ representatives have signed a formal
statement to champion equality and ensure equal opportunities for all staff members while embracing their diversity.
The outcome of the meeting, as well as different areas of cooperation and subjects relevant to JHA discussed throughout 2019, will serve for the drafting of a joint strategic report with recommendations for the EU Council on the future Internal Security Strategy.
Background
The Justice and Home Affairs Agencies Network (JHAAN) is composed of nine EU agencies:
eu-LISA,
CEPOL,
EASO,
Frontex,
Europol,
EMCDDA,
Eurojust,
FRA,
EIGE. DG Home, DG JUST, EEAS are invited to the network meetings as observers.
The Chair of the network is held for a year, on a rotating basis. In 2019, Europol has the Chair of the JHA Agencies Network.
The network was established in 2010 to foster bilateral and multilateral cooperation among the JHA agencies working on a range of justice and security issues such as migration, counter-terrorism, information exchange, serious and organised crime, monitoring of drugs use and addiction, cybercrime and cybersecurity, fundamental rights, police training, gender balance.
The network also aims at increasing the visibility of JHA agencies’ work in the implementation of key policy initiatives in the EU security architecture such as the European Agenda on Migration and the European Agenda on Security.
Further Reading
