State Secretary Martinović at Justice and Home Affairs Council

State Secretary Juro Martinović participated in the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union in Brussels on 4 December 2023.

With the rise of cross-border crime, EU criminal justice is increasingly confronted with situations where several Member States are competent to prosecute the same case, so the discussion covered the proposed Regulation on the transfer of proceedings in criminal matters as well as a Directive amending the Victims’ Rights Directive 2012/29/EU. The Victims’ Rights Directive was adopted in 2012 and the amendment aims to address the specific problems identified in the practical application of the Victims’ Rights Directive. The Presidency briefed the Council on current legislative proposals.

Among non-legislative activities, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was addressed. The Spanish Presidency provided information on the latest initiatives taken at European level in the fight against impunity with regard to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, focusing on the activities that had taken place after the Justice and Home Affairs Council in October 2023. Progress has been made in EU legislation on the confiscation of assets and the definition of criminal offences and sanctions for the violation of EU restrictive measures.

Ministers exchanged views on the functioning of the EPPO, and the strong support of Croatia for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and its work was highlighted.

The Council’s position and conclusions on the application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) were also discussed. The Republic of Croatia supported the Council’s position and conclusions on the application of the GDPR as a crucial part of legislation that ensures an equal level of protection of natural persons in all Member States when it comes to the processing of their personal data.

The Council adopted the European e-Justice Strategy 2024-2028 and the accompanying Action Plan, which should contribute to the implementation of the above-mentioned legislative and non-legislative initiatives and enable progress in new or complementary areas, as well as set principles and objectives for the development of e-Justice in the EU in the next five years. Croatia supported the adoption of the new Strategy and Action Plan and considers the cooperation of legal practitioners within each Member State and between different Member States and active involvement of the judiciary and other legal professionals extremely important.

The state of play regarding the EU’s accession to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) was presented. Ministers were informed on the appointment of the Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum on Justice and Home Affairs in Skopje on 26-27 October 2023, and on the EU-US Ministerial meeting on Justice and Home Affairs in Washington on 13-14 November 2023, the EU-US negotiations on the e-evidence agreement, the annual report on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and Belgium presented the work programme of its incoming Presidency.

Photo: MoJPA/European Union 

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