Beginning on 1 July 2020, the Federal Republic of Germany will be holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months. Germany’s Council Presidency thus comes at a time of unprecedented crisis. [ Ссылка ] #eudebates #Consumer #EU4Consumers #ProductSafety #Market #AI #Artificial Intelligence #Justice #Reynders
Effectively addressing the COVID-19 crisis will be the major task of the German Presidency. The goal will be to overcome this crisis together – through coordination, through solidarity and through the shared values of all 27 Member States. One particular focus will be on dealing with the societal and economic consequences. We must learn from the experiences of the last few months and set new priorities to ensure that the EU is better capable of responding to challenges in future by strengthening the resilience of the EU and its Member States.
But we will also focus on the many other important areas of justice and consumer protection that we want to advance during Germany’s Council Presidency.
On these page, you can gain an overview of the Presidency topics in the field of justice and consumer protection, and find out more about the German Presidency in particular.
Ministerial Meeting
The Informal Meeting of Justice Ministers will take place in virtual format on 6 July 2020. Further meetings within the framework of the formal Council meetings are scheduled for 9 October and 3 December 2020. We are also planning to hold an informal meeting of the Ministers of Consumer Protection in November 2020.
Democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are the essential preconditions enabling people to feel secure and free in Europe. Together with the justice ministries of the other Member States, we therefore aim to find ways to strengthen democracy, protect freedom of expression and effectively combat hate speech on the internet. We also fully support the negotiations with the Council of Europe on the EU’s accession to the European Human Rights Convention – negotiations which are due to resume as soon as the public health situation allows.
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need to further improve the resilience of European justice systems. The use of digital technology – including artificial intelligence – is one of the key issues here. Discussions about digitalisation and the further implementation of the European e-Justice Strategy are therefore top priorities on the German Presidency’s agenda. In this context, I will be placing special emphasis on how digitalisation can enhance access to justice.
As the past few months have shown, looking after the particularly vulnerable is an especially challenging task in times of crisis. We intend to carry on the work done by earlier Presidencies in terms of strengthening the protection offered to victims of crime in line with the new EU Victims’ Rights Strategy announced by the Commission.
Consolidating and improving judicial cooperation in criminal matters will be another priority of ours. Cooperation in this field is currently facing major challenges, particularly with regard to cross-border judicial surrender and extradition. Here, we would like to see enhanced collaboration between EU Member States in times of crisis. We hope that the trilogue on e-evidence can be advanced under the German Presidency and also that we will be moving into the operational phase of the EPPO during the German Presidency.
As regards judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters, we will focus on continuing the legislative work on the existing dossiers in order to accelerate mutual legal assistance, improve crisis resilience and facilitate cross-border investment. Our aim is to successfully conclude the trilogues on the reform of the service of documents and the provisions on the taking of evidence, and to reach a general approach within the Council on the proposal for a Regulation on the law applicable to the third-party effects of assignments of claims. In order to consolidate foreign policy on justice issues, we will carry on promoting the multilateral cooperation in civil matters between the EU and third countries.
In corporate law, we want to provide stimulus to ensure that future accountability regulations for globally active enterprises are built on a common European foundation. We will therefore be inviting experts to speak at a conference and discuss the responsibility of European companies for the human rights violations and environmental damage caused by their subsidiaries.
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