Hongaars voorzitterschap tevreden over vorderingen aanpak internetcriminaliteit (en)

At the official meeting of justice ministers in Luxemburg on 12 April 2011, there was a breakthrough in the debate on the draft directive to combat cyber crime. Member States also agreed that an agreement is urgently needed on steps to combat sexual crimes against children.

At the press conference held in the middle of the council session, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister, Tibor Navracsics i described it as a breakthrough that Member States were able to reach an agreement on one of the three open questions, related to cyber crime. “On the two other questions, we were very close to a breakthrough. Now we only need an agreement on technical matters,” the minister said. Mr Navracsics claimed that big majority of the Member States support the idea, that the minimum sentence for attacks against information systems should be two years. “Member States unanimously support the spirit, direction, and fundamentally, content of the Presidency’s proposal,” the Hungarian minister added.

Mr Navracsics highlighted that the fight against cyber crime is a priority of the Hungarian Presidency.

Questions to be resolved by June

The minister explained that the issue is whether the two topics close to being resolved—jurisdiction related to citizenship and so-called stolen identity (spoofing), should appear in the directive. Mr Navracsics believes that the general view amongst Member States is that council conclusions will be accepted in June on these questions.

In September 2010, the Commission proposed draft directive 14436/10, on attacks against information systems. The objective of the proposal is to update framework decision 2005/222/JHA. What is new about the draft directive compared to the old decision is, that it penalises the use of tools and also committing attacks by misusing identity data of another person; and it classifies illegal interception of computer data as criminal offence.

Sexual crimes against children

The second topic, which Mr Navracsics highlighted, was the debate about the draft directive to combat sexual crimes against children, and child pornography. The minister said to the press conference, ”We have completed the debate to clarify issues. We have a good chance of being able to accept the council conclusions in the June council session. According to Mr Navracsics’s account, the debate revolved around whether it was sufficient to block internet websites containing child pornography; or whether they should be removed. Some Member States took the view that it was sufficient to block the sites. Other Member States believed that this step was insufficient. A third group of countries endorsed a strategy combining the two approaches. In this system, each country would decide what solution to follow. ”No country can question the necessity of reaching an agreement soon. Given the fact that child pornography is on the internet, it cannot be linked to a particular country. This is an international crime. Consequently, the tools to fight it must also be an international one,” Mr Navracsics said.

In December 2010, the Council formulated a preliminary, common position on draft directive 8155/10, to combat sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The goal is for the Council to achieve a first reading agreement on the draft with the European Parliament by the end of the Hungarian Presidency. In addition to steps to combat child pornography websites, other open questions are the decision on jurisdiction in the case of sex tourism, the level of punishment, and the possibility of forbidding from exercising certain activities as a punishment.

Debate about the Roma Integration Strategy

Opinions were exchanged at the Luxemburg Council session on the Roma Integration Framework Strategy, which the Commission announced on 5 April 2011.

Within the EU framework strategy, all Member States must work out their own Roma Integration Strategy by the end of 2011. The EU will check the implementation of these each year. The framework strategy highlights four priorities: education, job creation, health care and housing. At the press conference held during the council session, Viviane Reding i, Vice-president of the Commission and Commissioner for Justice, described education as the most important one. She said, ”Roma kids attending schools will be the first priority.” The Commissioner stated that it was shocking that while the EU average for those who have completed elementary school, is above 90%, for the Roma it is 42%.

One of the main priorities of the Hungarian Presidency is the adoption of the framework strategy at the summit on 24 June. Until then, four council sessions will debate the framework strategy; and among them, the Justice council was the first.