Executive Director of eu-LISA Mr Krum GARKOV welcomed on 26 January the Prime Minister of Croatia Zoran Milanović in the headquarters of the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA).
The Executive Director and the Prime Minister exchanged views on the mandate and core tasks of eu-LISA, as well as progress of the Agency made during its two years of operation. Mr Garkov particularly highlighted the support eu-LISA provides to Member States through technical and operational assistance, dedicated training activities and exchange of information. Mr Garkov also elaborated on the legal proposal of the Commission on the Smart Borders programme which is a priority topic for the Agency in 2015. Mr Garkov explained that eu-LISA will implement the tasks of the Test Phase for the Smart Borders Package in cooperation with relevant Member States in order to provide evidence basis for considering the feasibility for the proposed systems and processes.
Prime Minister Milanović emphasized the willingness of Croatia to accede to the Schengen area as soon as possible and noted that this goal has been put high up on the political agenda of the country. He also acknowledged that Croatia is well aware of the requirements and mandatory technical stages to be successfully passed in order to meet the ambitious deadlines, set by the county itself. eu-LISA has and will continue to provide full-fledged support to Croatia to facilitate the country's integration to the large-scale IT systems – SIS II and VIS - under the responsibility of the Agency.
Prime Minister Milanović and the delegation were also introduced to the eu-LISA staff-members working in the headquarters in Tallinn, Estonia.
Background on eu-LISA:
The European Agency, eu-LISA, has been established to manage large scale information systems in the area of freedom, security and justice. It fulfils the operational management tasks for the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), Visa Information System (VIS) and Eurodac. The Agency thereby supports the implementation of the EU's border management, asylum and migration policies. The Agency is responsible for keeping all the IT systems under its control permanently functional in order to allow continuous and uninterrupted exchange of data between national authorities. eu-LISA ensures that it applies the highest levels of information security and data protection to the information entrusted to it.
The Agency was formally established in November 2012 and started its operations on 1 December 2012. The seat of the Agency is in Tallinn (Estonia); the operational management is carried out in Strasbourg (France) with the business continuity technical site in Sankt Johann im Pongau (Austria).
Links:
http://www.eulisa.europa.eu/
Contact for media requests:
Communication and Information Officer
e-mail:
press@eulisa.europa.eu
for general information:
email:
info@eulisa.europa.eu
