EU-RUSSIA JHA PERMANENT PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL READOUT

UNCLAS HELSINKI 001112

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/ERA AND EUR/RUS
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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PREL KJUS PHUM PTER EUN FI RU
SUBJECT: EU-RUSSIA JHA PERMANENT PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL READOUT



1. The EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council on Justice and Home
Affairs met in Helsinki on 30 October. The Finnish Minister of
Justice Luhtanen and Minister of the Interior Rajamaki represented
the Presidency, German Minister of Justice Zypries and Minister of
the Interior Schauble represented the next Presidency, and
Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Frattini represented
the EU. Minister of Justice Ustinov, Minister of the Interior
Nurgalijev, General Public Prosecutor Chaika, and Presidential Aide
Viktor Ivanov represented Russia. The agenda included discussions
on trafficking in persons (TIP),terrorism, drugs, organized crime,
and judicial cooperation.


2. In the closing press conference attended by Emboff, Frattini
emphasized tangible results from the day's discussions including the
upcoming entry into force of EU-Russia visa agreements, a commitment
to meet again during the Finnish Presidency at the expert level with
Russian and US representatives on counterterrorism, and an agreement
on EU-Russia data exchange on radicalization and recruitment of
Islamic youth. Rajamaki highlighted the Seminar on the
Identification of Children at Risk of Becoming Victims of Human
Trafficking (taking place 31 October in Helsinki with several US
participants) as an example of multilateral cooperation on justice
issues. Luhtanen called on Moscow to ratify the Hague Convention on
Child Abduction and the Council of Europe Convention on Money
Laundering to strengthen Russia's efforts in these areas and to bind
Russia to existing European structures. Ivanov and Chaika used
their statements to call attention to discussions on visa
facilitation and readmission policies, as 4 million people cross
between the EU and Russia annually. (Comment: Zypries and Schauble
did not attend the press conference; Ustinov and Nurgalijev remained
at the back of the room with security personnel.)


3. During the question and answer session, Luhtanen opined that the
future of EU-Russia JHA cooperation might be found in the extensive
Finland-Russia cooperation that currently takes place outside EU
fora; she said that perhaps the next steps were to make these
arrangements multilateral rather than continuing in a bilateral
format. Rajamaki pointed out that the EU and Russia are seeing
increasing radicalization of second generation immigrant Muslim
youth and that this pointed to a failure to adequately integrate
immigrant populations rather than a failure of immigration policy
per se. Chaika was peppered with queries about the Anna
Politkovskaya murder after he mentioned, in response to an unrelated
question, that he is personally responsible for the investigation.
Finnish television and print media were particularly hard on this
issue, eliciting irritation from Chaika. Once the questions moved
to illegal drug trafficking, Ivanov opined that the flow of heroin
into Russia and the EU from Afghanistan was as much a socio-economic
problem within Afghanistan as it was a border and justice problem
within Europe and Russia.


4. The joint statement issued by the PPC, in addition to the issues
discussed above, welcomed increased cooperation between the EU
border security agency (Frontex) and the Russian border service and
discussed the desire of both the EU and Russia for increased
judicial and legal cooperation in criminal and civil matters. The
closing statement, along with formal statements from the Presidency
representatives, are available on the Finnish EU Presidency
website.

WARE