Home Affairs Ministers of Schengen States with EU external land borders to meet in Lappeenranta on 12–13 September 2013
Finnish and Polish Ministers of the Interior have invited their colleagues from Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, all of which are Schengen States with eastern external land borders, to an informal meeting to be held in Lappeenranta, Finland, on 12-13 September 2013. Alongside the Ministers, public officials from the participating countries, Director of Europol, Executive Director of Frontex, and senior management from the Finnish Ministry of the Interior and its agencies have also been invited. A total of some 20 guests are expected to attend.
"The idea to have this meeting emerged during my visit to Poland in January. In the discussions I had with my colleague, Minister of the Interior Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, it became evident that Schengen States with external land borders face similar challenges. We are lacking a common voice on EU home affairs, and are easily overshadowed by southern Member States, for example when dealing with issues such as the funding of border control", says Finnish Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen, chair of the meeting.
The purpose of the Lappeenranta meeting is to deepen cooperation between Schengen States with eastern external land borders. In addition, the meeting will discuss the significance of land borders for EU internal security, cross-border traffic flows into the Union and immigration. A further goal is to establish a forum for regular cooperation between the Home Affairs Ministers of Schengen States with external land borders and to explore whether cooperation could also be extended to other countries with external land borders of the EU.
According to Ms Räsänen, the agenda of the meeting includes measures taken in different countries to deal with the increasing traffic volumes at the eastern borders and steps to deepen practical cooperation between the law enforcement authorities.
"Lappeenranta, located in south-eastern Finland, was chosen as the venue for this first informal meeting as this will enable us to introduce the special characteristics of our external land border in very concrete terms", Ms Räsänen says.
At the end of the two-day meeting, the Ministers intend to release joint conclusions proposing lines of action for future cooperation.
For more information, please contact Ms Katarine Lindstedt, Senior Adviser, tel. +358 71 878 8258