Michael McGrath will attend his first EU Council meeting today since becoming European Commissioner.
As a minister, he would be familiar with attending regular Council meetings with his counterparts. This time he will be at the table as European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection.
The Council of the European Union is the law-making body on an equal footing with the European Parliament. The European Commission attends to put forward its view, but does not have voting rights.
At Friday’s meeting in Brussels ministers are due to reach an early position on a European Directive on minimum rules to prevent migrant smuggling.
“Commissioner McGrath will then participate in a discussion on the Commission’s proposal to harmonise certain aspects of insolvency law and present the findings of the evaluation of the European Investigation Order.
He will also update ministers on the latest rounds of negotiations on the EU-US e-evidence agreement and on initiatives to ensure accountability for international crimes committed in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
There will be a debate on the future of EU criminal law and on AI systems in the field of justice.”
He is expected to give a press conference this afternoon after the meeting has concluded.