Luxembourg, 08/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Friday 8 October, European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding announced that next May will see the presentation of a “broad package of proposals” on victim protection, most notably for women who have been the victims of violence, whilst the Council of Ministers is still working on its own text. The Council has come in for sharp remonstrations from the commissioner, who took the view that due to the diversity of legislation (criminal or civil) in the member states, there was no point in the legislative proposal having a broad scope of application (EUROPE 10153).
The Belgian Presidency, however, now intends to stick to its guns over the proposal and hopes to be in a position to adopt the text before the end of its term in office. “We support the Spanish initiative, but we must continue our work, notably because the Parliament has just adopted over 200 amendments on the proposal, which makes things complicated”, said the Belgian justice minister, Stefaan De Clerck.
It is worth noting that the position of the United Kingdom is still pending, which may make it easier to achieve an early adoption of the proposal. If negotiations between the Council and the Parliament take too long, the dossier will move to the Hungarian Presidency, which is inclined to support the Commission's approach. This situation may even lead to one in which the future text of the Commission and the one currently being negotiated are both on the negotiating table at the same time. The ministers also made progress on negotiations for the directive on the sexual exploitation of children, in their approval of the first part of the text. However, differences of opinion exist over the level of sanctions, which the Commission would like to be higher. Lastly, the Commission has announced that it is to present a proposal on the right of suspects to legal assistance, which it will do next year. (B.C./transl.fl)