Brussels, 26/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - Croatia is asking for the subject of the European arrest warrant to be included on the agenda of the European Council in October. The European Commission believes that this country is infringing European legislation in this area.
“One thing is certain. The cabinet will not be making decisions on the matter in the next few weeks (…). Croatia is not trying to dodge the warrant and it respects the European arrest warrant, but it will request a discussion on the matter to be held by the European Council”, said Croatia's Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic at a meeting in Graz on Friday with his Austrian and Slovenian counterparts.
On Monday, the European Commission “deeply” regretted that Zagreb had not respected the deadline - which was set for last Friday - for clarifying its position in this issue, following an earlier letter to the Croatian authorities from European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding. “The law changed a few days before accession to the EU. The European arrest warrant lies at the very heart of judicial cooperation”, said Mina Andreeva, Reding's spokesperson, even speaking of a “breach of trust”.
Reding will tackle the issue next week during the Commission's meeting as this “urgent matter” requires decisions to be taken swiftly, especially the possibility of exploring avenues leading to possible sanctions (for example, setting up a specific monitoring mechanism or suspending European funds). Reading also wants the matter to be discussed at the Justice and Home Affairs Council in October.
Milanovic said that European legislation is not applied uniformly by all the member states. In the Commission's view, such a possibility exists but limits on application were negotiated through opt-outs by the countries that participated in the development of the rules of the European arrest warrant. Only three member states (Austria, France and Italy) have stated that the European arrest warrant does not apply to crimes committed before 2002. The states that joined the EU later took on all the European legislation and must apply it as it is. The Czech Republic had tried to obtain the same flexibility of the rules, but was unsuccessful. During the accession negotiations, Croatia did not raise the issue or ask “for special treatment”, said Andreeva.
Three days before joining the EU on 1 July, Croatia amended its national legislation relating to the European arrest warrant by adopting the Perkovic law, according to which crimes committed before 2002 cannot be subject to the European arrest warrant. Critics believe that this law aims to prevent the extradition to Germany of a former head of the Croatian police, Josip Perkovic, who is suspected by the Germany of being involved in the murder of a Croatian opponent in the 1980s. (MB/transl.fl)