Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands make up this group constituted in 2018 as a forum for debate on terrorism and against the most serious crimes.

The Vendôme Group held its third meeting in Madrid, convened by the Acting Justice Minister, Dolores Delgado, in which issues such as the fight against hate speech on the Internet and the rule of law in the European Union have been addressed.

The objective of this group, which includes the justice ministers of Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, is to discuss cross-border cooperation in the fight against terrorism and the most serious crimes. The Vendôme Group met for the first time in Paris on November 7, 2018 at the initiative of France and, later, in Brussels last March 25th.

During the course of the meeting, the ministers have been able to reflect together and debate around two main topics:

– Based on previous discussions, ministers have had the opportunity to exchange views with representatives of Internet service providers, in particular, Google, Facebook and Microsoft, on the fight against hate speech on the internet and the prevention of terrorist content in the network. Discussions have focused on how cooperation currently works and what additional measures could be taken. During this opening session, the ministers shared their national experiences in order to identify good practices.

– Likewise, there has been a debate about the rule of law and the role that the justice ministers of the European Union could play. The European Commission launched a reflection process on the rule of law in the EU last April and established possible ways for future actions, given that the rule of law, enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, it is one of the common values ​​on which the Union is founded. The Netherlands has launched a debate on how EU Justice Ministers could contribute and participate in this issue.

In addition, the ministers have held an informal exchange of views on issues related to criminal matters that will be addressed at the next Justice and Home Affairs Council that will meet in Luxembourg later this week.



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