The most vital issue on the agenda concerned the issue of ensuring security at the EU's external border. The Ministers exchanged views on the so-called entry screening and detention of irregular migrants. Most countries, including Poland, emphasised that they are facing further, mounting challenges to their border security. Poland made it clear that the EU's eastern border has become a target for hybrid actions, using migration and disinformation to destabilise and achieve political goals. Adequate protection of external borders serves precisely to protect European values. 

During the meeting, Ministers of Interior representing 12 EU Member States (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Estonia, Greece, Slovakia, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Denmark) addressed Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, and the EU Presidency to protect the EU from the instrumentalisation of irregular migration for political purposes and other hybrid threats. The signatories of the letter underline the need for an amendment to the Schengen Borders Code and the need to ensure maximum protection of all EU external borders. 

Moreover, the Ministers discussed the current situation on various migration routes to Europe. Poland called for all possible measures to be taken to stop the smuggling of migrants into Belarus. The current security and migration situation in Afghanistan and the implementation of large-scale EU IT systems interoperability were also discussed.

Deputy Minister Bartosz Grodecki also held bilateral talks with Ministers from Germany, Greece and Lithuania on the situation on the border with Belarus and its consequences for the EU Member States.

The next JHA Council meeting is scheduled for December 2021.