EC Briefing — Tuesday, 23 June 2026

Key Points

• The EU Commission will adopt a package to strengthen Europol and Eurojust against cross-border crime and terrorism.
• Omnibus proposals on taxation and energy product legislation will be presented by Commissioners Dombrovskis and Hoekstra.
• Commissioner Hansen is attending the Agriculture Council discussing post-2027 CAP and the agriculture market situation.
• The EU is coordinating technical contacts with the Taliban regarding the return of serious criminals and security threats.
• Member states retain competence over individual return decisions, with the Commission facilitating coordination efforts.
• No specific offers to the Taliban were disclosed; discussions remain focused on technical aspects of return logistics.

Full Transcript

Transcribed automatically from EbS (Europe by Satellite) · English audio track · AI-generated · May contain errors · Verify before quoting

Opening Statement

Good afternoon and welcome to our midday briefing.

We have three announcements for you today before we start taking your questions. And let me start with the college agenda and the press events for tomorrow. Tomorrow, the college is expected to adopt a package to strengthen Europol and Eurojust in the fight against cross-border crime and terrorism. The Executive Vice President Virkunen, as well as Commissioners Brunner and McGrath, will present this package in our press room here, together with a college readout after the meeting. And prior to that, we are proposing to you a technical briefing on this package, as usual, under embargo tomorrow morning, so that hopefully it can help you with your reporting. The commissioners are also expected to adopt omnibus proposals. By now, you are familiar with the topic, omnibus, in terms of simplification of legislation, this time on taxation and on energy product legislation. And its commissioners Dombrovskis and Hoekstra will present it here after the readout. And here again, we are offering a technical briefing tomorrow morning, also under embargo, and you will receive all the details regarding these events via our usual channels. And now, I will speak French, and I would just recall the Agriculture Council taking place today in Luxembourg. Commissioner Hansen is there representing the commission. The ministers will have an exchange on the post-2027 CAP and the agriculture market situation, especially as it relates to the war in Ukraine. A press conference with Commissioner Hansen is scheduled today around 16.10, after the meeting ends. As always, we invite you to reserve your questions related to agriculture and to the dedicated press conference. We have three groups of visitors joining us today, and I understand we have a group of young professionals from the UK with the Emerging Leaders Programme. Warm welcome to you. And we also have journalists from across Europe joining us as part of a seminar on the EU's high food safety standards. And finally, we have a group of French and Belgian influencers. and share with you some of our daily work here with the press. Wishing you a wonderful time in Brussels today despite the heat outside. Now that's it for our announcements and we can open the floor to your questions. Yes.

EU-Taliban meeting details

Q (Agence France-Presse): Hello, I'm Berto Bacchi from Agence France-Presse. There's a question about the meeting with the Taliban delegation. We know that the delegation arrived in Brussels this morning. Can you please tell us whether the meeting with the EU official has started, is ongoing, or is going to happen later this afternoon? And give us a bit of details of what you expect the meeting to cover and who is taking part exactly. Thank you.

Spokesperson: Yes, thank you very much. At this stage I have no updates to share to what I've said here yesterday. We do not share details of technical meetings before they have taken place. This is also the case here. This has also to do with security reasons and typically we can share information on such technical level meetings when they have taken place. A little bit for context. So contacts with representatives of the de facto authorities of Afghanistan have been ongoing for a while. A first meeting took place in Afghanistan in January, following that the Commission has been preparing for a meeting also here in Brussels. These technical level contacts come in response to an initiative by 20 member states. In a letter these 20 member states asked the Commission to coordinate technical contacts on returns. The focus of these member states is to return persons who have committed serious crimes or who pose security threats. So this initiative by these 20 member states is what the Commission is following up on. With this we pursue a comprehensive and a coordinated approach. And something that we have to bear in mind when we speak about returns. So the actual return is member state competence. Member state authorities look at every case, individual, they have to do that. This is also EU law, this individual review. And then they decide on a return. It's not the Commission or the EU that decides whether and where a person can be returned to. It's a member state competence. What the Commission can do is to help and coordinate. And this is what we're doing by having these technical level contacts. And as a matter of fact, the meeting that we're looking at in Brussels will also be an opportunity for member states and for member states at technical level to establish contacts, because it will be those member states that will have to carry out returns and that have to also be in touch themselves. And again, we speak here in the very first place about persons who pose a security threat and about serious criminals that member states want to return. Thank you.

Q: Markus, you have a follow-up. Go ahead. Yes, thank you. Just quickly. So you said that you cannot comment before the meeting takes place, so I assume that means that it has not started yet. Could you confirm that that is to take place today? Thank you.

Spokesperson: Thanks, Umberto, for the follow-up. No, what I can say is that we don't share any details before a meeting has taken place, and that's where we are at this stage. Once we share the details, you will know that the meeting has taken place. Obviously.

Q: Go ahead. I see that Commissioner Brunner is meeting with António Costa across the road at 5 pm. Is that to tell him some of the details of these technical discussions? And can you be a bit more clear on when a technical discussion stops being a political discussion? So I guess the European side wants to talk about the technicalities of sort of offloading these criminals and security threats onto the Afghans, but the Afghans presumably will want something in return rather than just sorting out the details of airports and flights and tickets and visas, etc. So when they ask for a quid pro quo, as one would assume they would, it presumably is a political discussion. What form is that political discussion likely to take?

Spokesperson: As Marcos said very clearly, discussions at the technical level. What will follow, if it will follow, that we will need to see once we see what is the outcome of this meeting at technical level, as underscored by Marcos. Yes, please.

Q (Reuters): Hi, I'm Amina Smaida with Reuters. A follow-up also on the Taliban visit. What is the EU actually offering the Taliban in return for cooperation on returns? Are we talking about financial support or steps towards further diplomatic engagement, like reopening embassies or consulates, to simply just handle the documents of returnees?

Spokesperson: As I've said, this is a technical level meeting. This is really about the technical level context, to establish context. There is no offer that I could talk about. This is about the technical level context. Yes.

Q (Euronews): I'm from Euronews. Marcos, you said that the focus is on persons who have committed serious crimes or who pose a security threat. Do you have data on how many irregular Afghans are also serious criminals? Because over 18,000 Afghans were ordered to leave the EU in 2025. I doubt all of them have committed the same crime. Do you have data on how many have committed serious crimes? I would like to know how many people are we talking about. Thank you very much.

Spokesperson: Thanks, Vincenzo. Thanks very much. As I've said, the actual return decision is something that member states do, so it's a member state level decision. This is also where you have to ask for the figures. Let me go to my left here, Silvia.

Q: Thank you very much, Silvia. You're on the foreign-based newspaper. I know it's a technical level, but technical level means many things. So what exactly does it mean, technical level? You're only coordinating, I mean, no kind of decisions. I would like to understand what technical level means. Also, in this technical level meeting from the part of the European Commission, are there any women taking part of it? For women, we're talking about Taliban. I think it's a justified question. What's the role of the countries? Because several countries that signed that letter are saying they're not taking part in this technical level meeting. So when you say that it's a chance for the countries that are interested to get to know what to expect or whatever, are some countries taking part in these technical level conversations? Thank you.

Spokesperson: Thanks very much. So if I understood well, this is three questions. First, on participation of member states at technical level. This is something that you would also have to check with member states. Second, on the delegation and if there are women participating, we don't give details on technical meetings before they have taken place. And also, for the delegation of the counterpart, you would have to ask that. Then the first question was on what is technical level, right? This is really about the technical level, meaning which level also in the hierarchy. So this is officials from the Director General's meeting, as opposed to political level. That's the issue. So I'll take one more question here, because we're starting going around on the subject. David.

Q (Radio Radicale): Thank you. David Carretta, Radio Radicale. It's a different angle. Some weeks or months ago, I've asked you who is paying for the hotel and flights of this delegation. I think that the question is relevant, because some of the Taliban, at least three officials of the Interior Minister, are under sanction of the European Union. So have you checked if there are any people in the delegation who are under sanction regime? Second question. Under the sanction regime for the Taliban, in fact, all the organization and groups linked to the Taliban are under sanctions. How can you explain your technical contact here in Brussels and the fact that those people belong to an organization, even if, let's say, an entity public entity, I don't know how to qualify it, and the fact that they are under your sanctions?

Spokesperson: The EU is mandated by the Council to maintain operational engagement with the de facto authorities in Afghanistan. So these are technical level contacts, operational engagement, technical level contacts, and this does not mean recognition. This by any means does not mean recognition. And on this aspect, it will also be useful maybe to have Anwar on the podium who can explain a little bit more on the diplomatic aspects. But maybe there are other aspects that come before. I don't know. Thank you. And last question on this topic. Go ahead.

Q (EU Observer): Nikolaj Nielsen, EU Observer. You mentioned this is only about Afghans who have committed crimes, but Johannes Luckner, I think in January, sort of suggested that it could also extend to, and I quote, non-criminal Afghans with a return order. Is there any possibilities this could be expanded to people who have not committed any crimes? Thanks.

Spokesperson: Thanks very much. So again, it's very important to underline that any decision, any individual decision taken by Member States on a return is something that needs to be done by Member State authorities. Now, Member States have written a letter to us asking to help coordinate and establish technical level contacts to return, in particular, serious criminals and persons who pose a security risk. So this is what we're working on. And I'll leave it at this. As said, when the meeting takes place and to the extent that we can share information on the outcome, we will be doing so, and that should also shed further light on the topic.

Hungary's judicial reforms

Q: Other questions to Markus? Yeah. Hi, Markus. It's a question on the rule of law and related to Hungary. Can you tell me if it's according to European law and European standards if a Member State wants to set a mandatory age limit or pension age for judges of the Constitutional Court? Because this is one part of the proposal of the new Hungarian government and this will set the scene to remove four Constitutional Court judges. And I'm asking this because I remember well the debates that we had around Poland when judges of the Supreme Court were set to be removed by a similar method. At that time, they set an age limit of 65. Then, right now in Hungary, the possible age limit for Constitutional Court judges is set to be the age of 70. Thank you.

Spokesperson: Are we aware of the Constitutional amendments proposed yesterday, which we understand are not subject to a public consultation? We are also aware that the draft law to establish an asset protection and recovery office has been proposed. These are early drafts and at this stage we have no comment to offer.

Q: Thank you, Markus. Other questions to Markus? No. Are there topics that you'd like to raise today? Edini.

Q: Hi, Paula. It's for Balazs, I believe. As regards to the European arrest warrant for former Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, I understand that you have not yet received the request to lift his immunity. However, he also claimed to Cyprus News Agency that he dismissed the call from the Belgian authorities to testify a bit more than six months ago, as he's a member of the Greek Parliament and as an ex-commissioner, he was expecting the European Commission to represent him in such judicial procedures in Belgium. In that case, can this actually happen? And if yes, have you received such a request from him? And how does this apply to ex-members of the College and what are they entitled to? Thank you very much.

Spokesperson: Okay, quite a few questions there. So first of all, let me just say that we've seen the media reports on the matter, but of course, given that this is an ongoing criminal proceeding pursued by the Belgian authorities, we don't have any particular comment to offer. Now, we have not received any request indeed on our side to lift the immunity of the former commissioner, nor have we received any request from him, to my knowledge, as regards a potential act of legal assistance in this context. So maybe as a general reminder, I would just recall that here at that time, we had approved what we call a post-mandate activity for the commissioner. So as you know, in the two years that follow the departure of members of the College, they are under an obligation to seek an authorisation from us as regards post-mandate activities. We consulted, as usual, the independent ethical committee. They looked at the matter. They shared their views publicly available, by the way. On that basis, the College had a reflection on the matter and took a decision collectively as a College, which authorised the activity concerned. And the activities concerned is one issue, and the authorisation of the activity is one issue, and alleged misconduct is a different type of question.

Q: Other questions to Balazs? Nope. We can then... Maria, is it still for Balazs? Yes, Paola, I'm here.

Qatargate investigation status

Q (EFSI newspaper): Maria Psaragos, EFSI newspaper, Greece. A follow-up actually on Irene's question. First of all, will there be any investigation into Qatargate within the Commission? Or this case is closed for the Commission forever? First question. And the second, do you consider that this arrest warrant against a former commissioner who had authorisation to participate in this NGO is a blow to the Commission's credibility or not? Thank you.

Spokesperson: Okay, so when you look at the Code of Conduct, now, of course, when members of the College leave the Commission, they have the right to potentially look at professional activities. However, as I said, they are required in the first two years to check with the Commission whether the envisaged activity is in line with Article 245 of the Treaty. That's an obligation that we have. As a matter of general practice, we always have to check that. And that's what we did in this particular case as well, upon consulting the Independent Ethical Committee that made its views available publicly. The College took a decision here, importantly, with a number of caveats, with a number of, let's say, conditions attached. Again, this College decision is also available publicly. You can see the conditions that the former commissioner had to abide by, in particular, in the course of this two-year period. If you remember, back in 2022, we also looked into the matter, specifically checking if there were potentially any indications of breach of the respective conditions. We also reached out to him at that point, seeking clarifications. We briefed you on our position at that time. And at that moment, back in 2022, when we looked at the matter, we had no indication of any breach of the conditions that were included in the respective College decision.

Q: Thank you very much. Okay. If no other questions to balance, we can change topic. Yes, Jorge?

Impact of Brexit on EU

Q: Hello, Paula. So I'm sure you know today marks 10 years since the citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. It was an extremely difficult moment for you because it was the first time that a member state chose to leave the Union. When you look back at these 10 years, would you say the European Union is stronger or weaker because of Brexit? We remember that the United Kingdom used to pose deeper political integration. So would you say that Brexit allowed you to do things that you could not have otherwise achieved? Thank you.

Spokesperson: Jorge, it was never the EU asking the UK to leave the EU, right? So it's really not for us to judge what impact it had. And I think it's a very legitimate question to address to the UK. We were very happy with having the UK among us. And it was never our wish that the UK...

Q: So that's all I would say on your question. Other topics? Jan.

Tech CEOs dinner discussion

Q: I have a question. I mean, I don't know how much you can say, but there was this lavish dinner – I don't know why it was lavish – this dinner yesterday among some CEOs, between some CEOs, tech CEOs, and the President. I wondered whether there's any indication you can give us of what was discussed, and whether there's any next step that would follow this engagement.

Spokesperson: Let me say a few words on that before giving the floor to Thomas. The discussion, it was a good discussion, and it was a discussion with AI tech leaders, and the subject was about how can we strengthen Europe's position in the AI value chain. That's been at the core of a number of discussions. It's really about our ambition to make Europe the continent of AI first, and we recognise that we need to start that work at home. That's also very much the essence of the tech sovereignty package that we presented to you a few weeks ago. And now we are looking at one very particular question, which is, how can we apply AI in the industrial processes? Because, of course, when we speak of AI, we can think of many different aspects. This focus, and yesterday also at the core of the discussion, is how can we

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