Brussels, 20/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption by an overwhelming majority (443 to 51 and 20 abstentions) of the report by Portuguese Socialist Luis Marinho, the European Parliament approved the initiative of France, Sweden and Belgium aimed at having the Council adopt a framework decision relating to the implementation in the European Union of decisions to freeze assets or evidence. Although only consulted in the matter, the Parliament nonetheless calls for this text to be strengthened on three points.
Thus, the Parliament considers that mutual recognition of judicial decisions ordering a freeze on assets or proof must not apply to only a few cases (drugs trafficking, Community budget fraud, laundering of money from crime, forgery of the euro, corruption, the trade in human beings, as three governments propose) but should cover all acts liable to a prison sentence of at least six months. It proposes bringing forward to 30 June 2002 (instead of 31 December) the date for enforcement of the decision. The Parliament also hopes that the Member States will content themselves with translating the decision into one official language of the EU other than their own, accepted by the State or States of implementation, in order to avoid translation towards many languages and to thus avoid delays that could prove detrimental to the effectiveness of the procedure and to the implementation of decisions.