At the invitation of the Japanese Minister of State and Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission Shinyja Izumi and Minister of Justice Kunio Hatoyama, State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice Robert Marolt and State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior Zvonko Zinrajh will attend G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting, which will be held from 11 to 13 June 2008 in Tokio. The State Secretaries will participate in the ministerial meeting as representatives of the country holding the presidency of the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union.
The G8 is an informal group of eight countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The European Union has participated in the G8 meetings since 1977 and is represented by the country that holds the presidency of the European Council at the time of the G8 meeting.
The meeting will begin on 11 June with an opening dinner and continue on 12 and 13 June 2008 with sessions that will discuss counter-terrorism activities, ID-related crime, measures against drug-related crime, cooperation in the fight against international organised crime, improvement of operational capabilities and fight against sexual exploitation of children. The last plenary session will feature the approval of the Roma-Lyon Group report and the adoption of the concluding declaration.
As regards counter-terrorism, the Slovenian representatives will present the ongoing implementation of counter-terrorism strategy and the implementation of the EU Action Plan on Combating Terrorism, which remains high on the EU political agenda. In this context, certain achievements during Slovenia’s Presidency of the EU Council have been especially significant: in April this year, EU interior ministers adopted the EU Action Plan on Enhancing the Security of Explosives, while justice ministers reached consensus on the text of the proposal to amend the Council Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism, which will enable a more efficient fight against contemporary forms of terrorism. Furthermore, the ministers will discuss radicalism and recruitment.
In the field of ID-related crime, endeavours of the EU against this type of crime will be presented, as well as the cooperation between the Member States. As regards combating drugs, active efforts of the EU aimed at further improvement of international and regional cooperation will be discussed.
One of the basic objectives of the EU is to provide a high level of security to its citizens in the area of freedom, security and justice by preventing and detecting criminal offences and through closer cooperation and information exchange between law enforcement agencies in the Member States. In this context, great progress has been achieved, as the integration of the provisions of the Prüm Treaty into the Union’s legal framework will enable law enforcement agencies to exchange information and data promptly and efficiently.
The ministers will also discuss EU priorities towards the improvement of operational capabilities and fundamental instruments to assist countries that are receiving EU assistance, through the exchange of information and good practice, in developing their own legislation in the fight against international organised crime and terrorism. They will focus on the endeavours of the Slovenian Presidency as regards cooperation with the Western Balkan countries in the fight against organised crime. Also on the agenda will be the state of affairs in the field of combating sexual abuse of children.
During the final session, the ministers will adopt the concluding declaration and approve the Roma-Lyon Group report, which is the main forum for G8 cooperation in defence against terrorism and fight against organised crime.
