MEPs approved, under the urgency procedure, (560 votes in favour, 17 against and 18 abstentions) the modification of the mandate of the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, Eurojust, on Thursday 19 May.
This revision of the regulation should enable Eurojust to preserve, analyse, store and share evidence of war crimes with the competent authorities of the Member States and with international judicial authorities (see EUROPE 12938/9). The agency’s current mandate does not allow for such actions. The regulation provides for Eurojust to acquire a new automated data management system to store evidence.
On 13 May, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) sent an opinion to the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the European Parliament in which he made several recommendations to be included in the regulation in order to respect data protection. For example, Eurojust would need to consult the EDPS before launching its new automated data management system.
The Chair of the Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain) amended the proposed regulation to include the recommendations received by the EDPS.
The representatives of the Member States, who were able to consult these amendments, undertook to approve the Parliament’s position, if it corresponded to the version submitted by Juan Fernando López Aguilar. This has now been achieved after the plenary vote.
Amendments by the ECR group to include the “crime of aggression” in the list of crimes covered by the regulation were rejected.
On the other hand, the Parliament adopted on the same day a resolution on the fight against impunity for war crimes in Ukraine, which calls for the creation of a special international tribunal to sanction the crime of aggression committed against Ukraine.
MEPs call on the EU “to support the immediate creation of an appropriate legal basis, with the support of established multilateral fora such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe” for the establishment of the special tribunal.
“The International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction over crimes of aggression. This gap must be filled by creating a special tribunal with the competence to try the Russian authorities for this crime of aggression”, said Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium), rapporteur on the resolution.
The text strongly condemns the aggression and atrocities committed in Ukraine, supports the ongoing investigations, and welcomes the establishment of a joint investigation team between Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine (see EUROPE 12920/3).
In addition, EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told MEPs that the joint investigation team should be extended to Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia by the end of the month.
“I have continued contacts with other Member States to see if others, who have already launched investigations at national level, can still join this joint investigation team”, he added. For him, this format is “the best way to coordinate activities”.
See the proposal for a regulation to revise Eurojust’s mandate, as adopted by the Parliament: https://aeur.eu/f/1pz
See the resolution adopted by the Parliament: https://aeur.eu/f/1py (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)