Brussels, 14/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - With its adoption of the report by Sarah Ludford (ALDE, United Kingdom) on Monday 13 January, the European Parliament's civil liberties committee called on the European Commission to reform the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) within the year.
MEPs say that this reform should include a clause on respect for fundamental rights and a “proportionality criterion” to prevent the EAW being misused or for minor offences. The rapporteur said that this reform would “help to prevent miscarriages of justice”. The committee adopted its report by 45 votes to 4.
Ludford is proposing that, if there is serious reason to believe that execution of the measure were incompatible with the obligations of the member state of execution under Article 6 of the EU Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, something that does not feature in the current framework decision, a mandatory right of refusal be allowed. With regard to ensuring proportionality, it is essential that the measure applied is the least intrusive as possible.
Reform of the European Arrest Warrant should also provide for proportionality being guaranteed on the basis of a whole range of appropriate factors, such as the seriousness of the offence, whether the case in question is ready to go to trial, the impact on the rights of the person sought by the legal authorities, including protection of private and family life, as well as the impact on costs and availability of alternative less intrusive measures.
Member states should also ensure that any individual whose rights and freedoms have been breached by a decision pertaining to application of the EAW or any other mutually recognised criminal instrument of has the right to appeal in court.
The European Arrest Warrant was introduced through framework decision 584/2002 of 13 June 2002 in the wake of the attacks committed on 11 September 2001. It replaces extradition procedures among member states between. The United Kingdom is part of this agreement but is eager to withdraw from an instrument it currently believes to be both inefficient and lacking in balance. British Conservatives believe that it also lacks reciprocity because there are far more suspected criminals being extradited from the United Kingdom than suspected criminals being arrested and sent to the United Kingdom to be put on trial there. The vote by the civil liberties committee still needs to be confirmed by the plenary session. (SP/transl.fl)