Brussels, 18/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, a spokesman for European Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Frattini said the European Commission was 'really disappointed' with the new rejection of the European arrest warrant by the Italian parliament. On Thursday, the Chamber of Deputies rejected part of the text, which means its adoption will now be postponed again. Moreover, Italy's justice minister, Roberto Castelli, of the Lega Nord, voted against and helped ensure the text's downfall. In 2001, Castelli fought a long battle to ensure the EU Council of Ministers did not adopt the European arrest warrant or only retain a very watered down version of it, but finally ended up agreeing to it, under pressure from the other Member States submitted to him in the end by no less than Italy's head of government, Silvio Berlusconi.
Italy is the only Member State which has not introduced the European arrest warrant into its legislation. It should have come into force throughout the EU on 1 January 2004. Commissioner Franco Frattini was part of the same government as Castelli, before he was appointed European Commissioner. His spokesman, Friso Roscam Abbing, regretted Italy's delay, which cannot be afforded in the fight against organised crime, he said. Is the fact that a party which is part of the government is blocking the arrest warrant a problem? Abbing said it posed problems for Italian politics but not necessarily for the Commission, stressing that the Commission always had faith that the European arrest warrant would be adopted by the Italian parliament in the end. Frattini pledged to do his utmost to ensure the warrant is adopted in Italy, but is not reported to have been in contact with the Italian authorities since the vote on Thursday.
This latest rejection by Italy has come at a time when the European Commission is preparing to publish a report on implementation of the European arrest warrant, due to be debated by the EU25's justice ministers on Thursday, including Castelli himself. At the European Parliament, Claudio Fava (PES) stressed the embarrassing situation Frattini is in and polemically asked whether he was deliberately delaying the publication of the report.
At the European Parliament, the Left also voted against the text, for different reasons than the Lega Nord. It protested against the fact the warrant was watered down too much by amendments and made more complicated than the current extradition system, explained MPs. The European arrest warrant will now return to the Senate, before being sent back to the Chamber in the Italian parliamentary system.