EU Commissioner Jourová Attended Informal Meeting of Justice Council in Sofia

The European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, is on a visit to Bulgaria for the first informal meeting of the justice council held on 26^th of January within the Bulgarian EU Presidency. A wide range of topics from the European Public Prosecutor's Office to robotics from a justice point of view and new technologies in justice systems were discussed at the working sessions.

In relation to the Istanbul Convention debate, Bulgarian Justice Minister Tsetska Tsacheva said that the subject was not the main topic of the official meetings, but was discussed in the informal talks with EU Commissioner Jourová, with representatives of the relevant EP committees. Tsacheva stressed that the draft law was not withdrawn, but it was decided that more time was needed for those who hesitate to get familiar with the documents in detail.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourová commented that violence against women is a very big problem in many European countries. She thanked Bulgarian politicians who supported this important legislative act and called for those who were hesitant to understand why the convention was negotiated by 47 countries of the Council of Europe. As it is about the prevention of violence, including domestic violence, not only women but also children, protection of victims, better prosecution of perpetrators.

Jourova also commented on the topic of building a regulation that links money from EU funds to the rule of law. She explained that this was about definitions of what conditions Member States should fulfill to be able to receive EU funds. The definition, in her words, will be a much more accurate description than what we understand under the rule of law.

This definition will be included In the legislation concerning the future financial framework, but one thing should be clear - it will not only refer to cohesion policy and agricultural policy. This will be a reference to horizontal EU funding, so we are not talking about sanctions against selected Member States. I think we have a difficult task to define this precondition, but I think we have to do it, Commisoner Jourova said.

As regards the topic of setting up a European Public Prosecutor’s Office Jourova said that the intention was to have the EPPO up and running by the end of 2020, with a central office based in Luxemburg.

So far, 20 countries participate in it, but during the meeting, the Kingdom of the Netherlands stated that it considers joining the EPPO in the future.

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