On Thursday 12 September, in the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE), the ECR Group challenged the decision of the political group coordinators to postpone the decision on its proposal to draw up an own-initiative report on the revision of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).
The coordinators decided to examine this proposal at their next meeting, scheduled for 8 October, at the same time as other proposals for own-initiative reports.
"Our group does not want further postponement", said Spanish MEP Jorge Buxadé Villalba (ECR), from the Spanish VOX party and author of the proposal, calling for an urgent review of the EAW and calling for an immediate vote.
According to a VOX party source, the reason for the postponement is eminently political. The other political groups would also be in favour of a revision of the EAW, but are uncomfortable because the proposal comes from the VOX party, she explained.
For the Spanish party, opposed to the independence movement, the urgency of the reform is closely linked to the Catalan question and the presence of the former Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, on Belgian territory, believing "he should be tried in Spain", according to this source.
It was finally decided that the proposal to postpone the decision on a possible own-initiative report would be put to the vote of the entire LIBE Committee on Monday 16 September in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)