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The Hague, 10/02/2023
EDOC# 1286356
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18 APR 2023

  

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Briefing Note

Joint PSC/COSI meeting followed by COSI meeting
21-22 February 2023, Brussels

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1. Time and Place

Joint COSI - PSC meeting on 21 February (starting at 14.30 in the Europa building):

Links between internal and external security in Ukraine
CSDP-JHA cooperation in general (including the new Civilian CSDP Compact)

COSI on 22 February (startin ‚00 in the Europa building) -
Items for discussions where Europol’s attendance is foreseen:

Going dark: access to data for judicial and law enforcement purposes - the way forward
Internal security implications of the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine:
countering firearms trafficking - the way forward

EU Innovation Hub for Internal Security: 2022 Annual activity report and Multi-annual
planning of activities 2023-2026

Items for information (Europol attendance not foreseen):

Revised process for evaluating and possibly entering information from third countries on
suspected Foreign Terrorist Fighters in the Schengen Information System - for
endorsement

Digital Files - information by the Presidency

JHA Agencies Network - presentations from the 2022 Presidency (CEPOL) and the 2023
Presidency (EUAA)

Items concluded by the COSI Support Group

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2. Key messages

2.1. PSC/COSI -CSDP/JHA cooperation in the context of the Russian ag-
gression against Ukraine: state of play and future outlook

Context: In addition to the invitation, there was a short background note circulated ahead of the
PSC/COSI meeting. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is again a good example where a
joint approach between the EU’s internal security and external security actors is key to avoid
overlap and increase effectiveness and coherence of EU support. The links between internal and
external security in Ukraine and CSDP-JHA cooperation in general is a discussion that the Swedish
presidency is planning to continue at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 9 March.

 

The guiding questions indicated in the invitation letter are:
1. Is there a need for more or different involvement in Ukraine by CSDP instruments or
national JHA actors in addressing the security implications stemming from the war?

2. How can future consultations between PSC and COSI address situations with clear internal
and external security implications, including concrete and actionable deliverables? In ad-
dition, how can the new civilian CSDP Compact best contribute to more regular cooperation
between civilian CSDP and the JHA area?

In the paper presented ahead of the meeting, the civilian CSDP mission EUAM Ukraine is
outlined, including its support to Ukrainian agencies to develop a Serious and Organised Crime
Threat Assessment (SOCTA) and to develop a coordination mechanism with Europol and raise
awareness of EMPACT. As such, many of the mission’s activities are closely related to the areas
covered by the internal security dialogue.

In addition, the overarching new Civilian CSDP Compact is also highlighted, which is due to be
adopted by mid-2023, to increase the civilian missions’ effectiveness and help developing the
necessary civilian capabilities as well as further enhance cooperation between relevant EU and
Member States’ justice and home affairs actors and CSDP. The implementation of the compact is
taken forward by the EEAS and the Commission through a joint action plan, as well as through
MS on a national level through their own implementation plans (all MS have adopted this).

The EU currently deploys 12 missions in the framework of civilian missions in fragile and post-
conflict environments!. Several measures in recent years have been taken to better address pri-

 

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the Central African Republic

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2.2. Going dark: access to data for judicial and law enforcement pur-
poses

Context: This will be a discussion to follow-up on the informal JHA Council where the topic was
first tabled under the Swedish Presidency. Establishing a new forum (High-Level Expert Group on
Access to Data) to jointly take the issue of access to data forward, received broad support.

While access to data has been discussed in many forums for a long time, the Presidency intends
for the HLEG to include actors from all relevant sectors, and to propose recommendations to solve
concretely defined problems. The High Level Expert Group (HLEG) format would allow going be-
yond the Council and its working structures, thus enabling a broader participation of various
stakeholders (e.g. European Parliament, academia, representative of industry and representa-
tives of NGOs). The HLEG should benefit from the work already conducted by, for example, the
EU Internet Forum, the EU Innovation Hub and the Commissions’ work on the way forward on
encryption.

The task of defining the continuation of the work was subsequently given to COSI. The aim of this
meeting will be to agree on the way forward in establishing the HLEG and to hold a first exchange
of views about the objectives, format, and basic organisational aspects of such a forum. The
Presidency and the Commission (as proposed co-Chairs) will then draft an outline of the main
challenges and the mission description/expected outputs to be submitted to the Commission and
brought to the attention of the next COSI meeting.

The work of the HLEG should result in recommendations for legislative, non-legislative and/or
practical measures and the development of joint and coherent approaches to the issues at hand.
In terms of overall timing, the aim is for the results of the work to be presented by mid-2024.

The questions in the discussion paper to guide delegations responses are as follows:

1. Doyou agree with the Presidency’s proposed way forward to address the issue of enhanced
access to data for judicial and law enforcement authorities? In your opinion, which are the
main areas and challenges that should be the primary focus of the HLEG and/or its sub-
groups? And what specific operational or other challenges do authorities in your Member
State face when it comes to access to data for the purposes of enforcing the legal frame-
work?

Do you agree the group should be co-chaired by the Commission and the Presidency?

Do you agree that the HLEG should involve also non-institutional actors, as appropriate?
Can the HLEG benefit from synergies with existing structures and forums and ongoing
work related to access to data? If yes, in what way?

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At the same time the Swedish Presidency is also pursuing discussions on criminal justice related
aspects in the CATS (Coordinating Committee in the area of police and judicial cooperation in
criminal matters), in particular when it comes to aspects such as e-evidence, data retention,
procedural safequards to accessing data (decision from judge or not) etc,

The Swedish Presidency makes a distinction of the topics to be discussed at COSI, focusing on
solutions in terms of technological tools, mutualisation of resources, specialisation of law enforce-
ment authorities, forensic capacity, dialogue between law enforcement authorities and the private
sector, etc. Together with national police authorities, Europol’s Cybercrime Center and Innovation
Lab plays a key role in this regard. The work of ENLETS (European Network of Law Enforcement
Technology Services) should also be highlighted.

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2.3. Internal security implications of the Russia "s war of aggression
against Ukraine: countering firearms trafficking - the way forward

Context: At the last COSI meeting under the Czech Presidency there was a discussion on the
repercussions of the war in Ukraine on internal security, where EU CTC, COM, Europol, Frontex
and EEAS debriefed COSI on the latest developments regarding the internal security dialogue
with Ukraine. Delegations welcomed the outline of the structured dialogue

and the more detailed action table on security implications as practical
tools that facilitate the follow up on the various work strands. Delegations called for a continuous
involvement of COSI in monitoring the developments.

COSI will receive regular briefs on the progress made and will monitor the overall implementation
of the list of actions.

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