Brussels, le 08/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - As anticipated, the European Commission on Wednesday 8 June adopted a new legislative initiative on guarantees of procedural rights for suspects and those accused of a crime, more specifically a proposal allowing any detainee, wherever in the EU they are, to have access to a lawyer as soon as possible, before their first session of questioning and for the duration of the proceedings. The proposal also brings in rights, across the member states, for the suspect to be permitted to contact and inform his or her family or employer, and the right for foreign nationals to contact their consulate or embassy.
Under the proposed directive, any interview between the suspect and the lawyer must also be confidential, to allow the lawyer to carry out the defence rights properly, states the Commission. The lawyer must also be able to carry out an active role regarding the client and during questioning; they should also be allowed to verify the conditions under which the suspect is being held. The directive will also apply to procedures for a suspect to be handed over between states under a European arrest warrant.
The Commission's proposal is based on a series of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which, by means of its case-law, has gradually established a raft of criteria on the fairness aspect of criminal proceedings and trials. It also comes in the framework of the roadmap provided by the Stockholm programme of 2009 entrusted to the Commission, which has already put forward two proposals on the translation and interpretation of suspects' rights, and on information regarding suspects' rights, which looks at the conditions for lawyers to access the suspects' files.
Although this third initiative could help to harmonise the practices of the EU27, which still diverge, particularly with regard to suspects' rights to contact their families, it will not make any major changes to the presence of the lawyer from the start of the period of imprisonment, as this has already been brought in by most member states, which have gradually come into line with the criteria of the ECHR. Belgium, which still does not provide for this presence, is also in the process of creating such a law. For some countries, however, the proposal could usher in developments in certain areas, such as in the Netherlands, where the suspect is allowed access to a lawyer, but this lawyer is not allowed to attend questioning, a Commission source explained on Wednesday. However, the Commission argues that this new proposal will be fairly consensual and is unlikely to meet any “particular resistance” from the member states, the source continued.
Lastly, the Commission explains, as regards the funding of this legal assistance, particularly for the most socially vulnerable suspects, we will have to wait until 2013, as the Commission has launched an impact study on the cost of the early presence of lawyers with suspects and is currently considering what type of measures it is likely to recommend. (S.P/transl.fl)