§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the dates of the European Union meetings attended by Ministers in his Department from 1 January onwards and the issues that were discussed at each meeting. [150]
§ Mr. BlunkettThere have been two formal Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Councils and one informal JHA Council since 1 January. All three Council were attended by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw), the then Home Secretary, and my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche).
The informal JHA Council took place on 8–9 February 2001. The formal JHA Councils took place on 15–16 March and 28–29 May. I am placing the agendas of the formal council meetings in the Library. The Government reported the outcome of these meetings to the European Scrutiny Committee in accordance with the usual arrangements. The issues discussed at the informal Council were: a review of progress on implementing the Tampere European Council Conclusions; JHA aspects of EU enlargement; illegal immigration via the Western Balkans; EU Common Asylum policy; trafficking in human beings, including women and children; and mutual recognition of civil law decisions.
In addition, my right hon. Friend the Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng) attended a Youth Council meeting on 28 May to discuss the proposal for a Commission White Paper on youth issues.