This interparliamentary committee meeting, with the participation of members of the corresponding Justice and Home Affairs committees of the 27 EU national Parliaments, is providing Members of the European Parliament and of national Parliaments a first opportunity after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Brussels

LÓPEZ AGUILAR, Juan Fernando (S&D, ES)

Lisbon Treaty (T)

Frontex

interparliamentary meeting

Europol

area of freedom, security and justice

WAINWRIGHT, Rob (UK)

BUSUTTIL, Simon (EPP, MT)

LAITINEN, Ilkka (FI)

Europol and Frontex: extracts from the Interparliamentary meeting

SOUNDBITE (English), Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), It is a great challenge to legislate at European level in this area of Justice, Liberty and Security, as we have to, simultaneously, take into account the best possible solutions, whilst preserving essential elements of the national legal orders.

SOUNDBITE (French), Fernard KOEKELBERG, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Internal Security (COSI), Belgian Presidency, Most of national delegations around the table insist on the fact that combating serious crime is the greatest concern of all of us. A number of delegations put forward the idea of thinking about all possible ways of combating and preventing organised crime. And this is not just looking at the repressive aspect or criminal sanctions, but also to use alternatives ways forward, such as armed administrative law which makes possible to close an establishment, confiscation of certain goods, without the need of always resulting in criminal sanctions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ilkka LAITINEN, Director of the european agency FRONTEX, Whereas criminal groups used to have a choice of routes, the clear focus of activity has now been restricted to Greek-Turkish land border. After the first 6 months of this year, this route accounted for more than 80% of all detections at EU external borders. According to FRONTEX risk analysis Turkey is now the established transit country for irregular migrants heading for Europe, with an increasing trend of for irregular migrants to fly into Istanbul and then head for the border.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ilkka LAITINEN, Director of the european agency FRONTEX, The situation at the Hungarian-Serbian border is a continuation of the events in Southern Greece. As those migrants move north towards their destination countries they typically transit the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia with a view at entering the EU at the Hungarian border. This is one of the situations expected to change with the future accession of Bulgaria and Romania into Schenguen.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ilkka LAITINEN, Director of the european agency FRONTEX, To fight effectively the insidious and ever present threat to our values such as trafficking in human beings, often minors, for sexual exploitation, economic slavery, for the sale of organs, etc. we must by necessity have the ability to name names.

SOUNDBITE (English), Simon BUSUTTIL (EPP, MT), rapporteur, Do we want to continue to have loose cooperation amongst us when it comes to protecting our external borders, or do we want to move on and integrate completely and create, who knows, a European Border Guard Agency for instance?

SOUNDBITE (English), Rob WAINWRIGHT, Chairman of Europol, The work of Europol is to make Europe safer, by protecting our citizens from international crime and terrorism and that means that the trust of public and their understanding are very important to us, and that's why we welcome any arrangements to enhance our transparency and democratic accountability.

SOUNDBITE (English), Rob WAINWRIGHT, Chairman of Europol, We could use the opportunity to clarify our mandate and purpose particularly ion the areas of transnational crime that are becoming harder and harder to fight at national level, in particular in regard to cybercrime, money laundering and the transfer of terrorist financing.