EU home affairs ministers to discuss threats to internal security as well as migration management

EU home affairs ministers will gather in Warsaw in Poland on 30 January for an informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. They will discuss current challenges and threats to EU internal security as well as migration management, among other topics. State Secretary Antti Salminen will represent Finland at the meeting in place of Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen, who is unable to attend for reasons of illness.

“We need a comprehensive and horizontal approach to security. Traditional threats to internal security, such as organised and cross-border crime and terrorism, have not disappeared. We are also facing other kinds of threats, such as hostile states using migrants as weapons of influence and coercion against EU Member States, and hybrid threats against critical infrastructure,” Salminen says.

The EU’s capacity to protect critical undersea infrastructure must be strengthened

A number of undersea cables have been damaged in the Baltic Sea in recent months. In the case of Eagle S, the Finnish authorities took action quickly and prevented any further damage that the anchor dragging could have caused.

“We must strengthen the EU’s capacity to protect critical undersea infrastructure and repair damage. It is important that we improve the common recognised maritime picture and facilitate the exchange of maritime information between EU and NATO members. In addition, we must find common means to limit the activities of Russia’s shadow fleet,” Salminen says.

Coordinated EU-level preparedness for all crises and threats is needed

Over working lunch, the ministers will discuss the preparedness report by former president Sauli Niinistö. According to Niinistö, Europe must take the changing security environment seriously and adopt a coordinated EU approach to preparedness for crises and threats.

Niinistö’s report will serve as a basis for the Preparedness Union Strategy, the Internal Security Strategy and the White Paper on the Future of European Defence, which the EU will publish in spring 2025. The three strategies must be prepared in a coordinated way.

Migratory pressure on the EU must be reduced

The home affairs ministers will continue their discussion on migration management and related innovative solutions. One aim is to find ways to reduce the migratory pressure on the EU and to prevent the smuggling of migrants. Another aim is to facilitate more effective returns.

“Finland has worked hard for this at the national level, but we also need new solutions at the EU level. Illegally staying third-country nationals are obliged to cooperate and comply with their return obligations. If they do not do so, we must have effective means of enforcing return decisions. It is especially important to us to ensure the effective return of those who pose a security threat,” Salminen says.

Finland co-signed a letter to the European Commission in May 2024 where 15 Member States stressed the need to explore innovative solutions beyond the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Inquiries:
Laura Yli-Vakkuri, Director General, tel. +358 40 720 2216, firstname.lastname@gov.fi
Communications Unit, Ministry of the Interior, media.sm@gov.fi (requests for interviews with the Minister)