An informal meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) ministers opened in Dublin on 16 July under Ireland’s rotating EU Council Presidency, with Poland represented by Interior Minister Agnieszka Kamińska. According to the Presidency agenda, the first day focused on linking visa policy to internal security, while 17 July sessions examine data retention and child-protection issues. Speaking on arrival, Minister Kamińska told reporters that Warsaw will support an Irish proposal to standardise EU carrier sanctions for transporting undocumented passengers, arguing it would ‘reduce secondary movements that put pressure on Poland’s eastern borders’. Poland is also lobbying for a fast-track mechanism to repatriate third-country nationals whose asylum claims have been rejected anywhere in the Union, echoing its domestic push to expand return decisions highlighted by the Nadodrzański Border Guard report a day earlier. For corporate mobility programmes, the discussions matter because the Presidency intends to revisit the 2025 Schengen Visa Code amendments that lengthened multiple-entry visas for trusted travellers. Several Member States—including Poland—now want the power to suspend those facilitations on security grounds, potentially complicating visa-run scheduling for frequent business visitors. Final conclusions are expected late on 17 July. Even though informal meetings do not adopt binding legislation, they shape the formal Council agenda for the rest of the Irish Presidency. Stakeholders should watch for a working document on ‘return sponsorship’, which could require companies that post workers on ICT permits to fund deportation costs if those workers overstay elsewhere in Schengen.
Source: AGERPRES
