On 10 May eu-LISA was hosted by the European Parliament in Brussels in order to attend a meeting with the MEPs of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE Committee) to discuss the Agency's priorities and main activities for 2017.
Krum Garkov, eu-LISA's Executive Director, highlighted the Agency's core mission and reiterated our continued technological support to the Member States in their efforts to ensure a safer Europe. In this respect, the Agency will continue to make important contributions to Europe's work to meet the challenges related to migration crisis, terrorist threats and cross-border crime. Mr Garkov gave concrete examples to the Committee Members of how the use of the IT systems entrusted to eu-LISA could further enhance security in the Schengen Area.
Bernard Kirch, Head of Operations at eu-LISA, presented the state-of-play regarding the three main large-scale IT systems under the Agency's responsibility - Eurodac, SIS II and VIS whilst Mailis Pukonen, Head of GCU, gave a detailed explanation of some of the upcoming proposals in the Home Affairs area namely the VIS recast, the SIS II recast and the Dublin package. Following questions from committee members, she underlined the importance of the training the Agency provides and gave examples thereof. eu-LISA's Head of Resources and Administration Department, Krzysztof Czekalowski, illustrated with consolidated figures the evolution of the budget for 2016 and 2017 and its implementation. Budget matters related to EES and Eurodac proposals were also presented.
The LIBE Committee members showed particular interest in the topics of Entry/Exit System (EES), European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS TCN), the amendment of eu-LISA's establishing Regulation and the outcomes of the High Level Expert Group's work on Interoperability. Mr Garkov addressed these questions and received support for the Agency as well as congratulations on the work done and commitment to support the Agency's necessities from the MEPs.
Claude Moraes, Chairman of the LIBE Committee, closed the meeting by thanking the Agency for attending and encouraging further development of the relationship between the Agency and the European Parliament.
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