The meeting of European Justice and Home Affairs ministers ended without achieving an agreement on the question of Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania. On the other hand, they adopted a decision on the signature of the EU-Australia PNR agreement and discussed the stated of play regarding the Common European Asylum System.

The Council did not agree to the draft Council decision presented by the Polish presidency on the framework for the full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in Bulgaria and Romania, even when the European Parliament already gave its agreement to the procedure. However the Presidency intends to continue its efforts to find a basis for agreement.

In addition, the Justice and Home Affairs ministers adopted a decision on the signing of the EU-Australia PNR (passenger name records) agreement. However it is still necessary that the European Parliament vote the agreement and once it gave its consent, the Council can adopt is decision on the conclusion of the agreement. This revision of the agreement is produced following a request of revision by the EP on the PNR agreements with Australia, Canada and the United States of America. While negotiations on the PNR agreement with Australia have now been finalised, those on revised PNR agreements with the US and Canada are still ongoing. The European Commission set out  in September 2010 general principles for the agreements on passenger data records.

The Council also discussed the state of play of negotiations on the asylum package. Ministers gave particular attention to possible ways to move forward in negotiations on the Dublin regulation based on the concept of an early warning and preparedness process, in the form of an 'asylum evaluation mechanism'. Such an evaluation mechanism could be used as a tool for the prevention of asylum crises and could be set up in parallel to the 'emergency mechanism' so far included in the Commission proposal and rejected by a majority of member states. Moreover they agreed that the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) is a practical instrument of EU cooperation in the asylum area.

Justice and Home Affairs ministers agreed on improving the efficiency of future EU financial programmes supporting judicial cooperation on the basis of the interim evaluation of the ‘Criminal Justice' and 'Civil Justice' programmes, which are part of the General Programme on Fundamental Rights and Justice (2007-2013). These two programmes are aimed at establishing a European area of justice based on the principle of mutual recognition of court rulings and cooperation between judicial authorities in civil and criminal matters. They are also intended to facilitate access to the courts and hence to facilitate the lives of European citizens, and to involve civil society in the debate on justice. Furthermore, they endorsed Europol's work programme for 2012.