*** GILLES DE KERCHOVE, ANNE WEYEMBERGH (Ed.): La confiance mutuelle dans l'espace pénal européen / Mutual Trust in the European Criminal Area. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 6503799 - Fax: 6503794 - e-mail: editions@admin.ulb.ac.be - Internet: http: //http://www.editions-universite-bruxelles.be/ ). "Etudes européennes" series. 2005, 337 pp, €24. ISBN 2-8004-1362-X.
Without mutual trust, there could not be a European Criminal Area. The Tampere European Council made mutual recognition of judicial decisions within the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice the keystone of judicial cooperation between EU Member States. If you talk about mutual recognition, you are also talking about mutual trust, without which recognition of what is judged 'elsewhere' will remain empty words. The problem is that mutual trust cannot be decreed by law and does not come into being with the wave of a magic wand, but has to be constructed. In the introduction to this book, Luc Frieden, Luxembourg's justice minister, explains this very well by pointing out the problems encountered by the European arrest warrant, the EU's first tool for putting mutual penal recognition into practice. He explains that parliamentary debate in the Member States made it abundantly clear that Member States do not yet seem prepared to have the penal code and the penal procedures of another state (even an EU Member State) imposed on them without minimum harmonisation to facilitate dialogue among stakeholders in the mutual recognition process. In the preface Franco Frattini writes in this connection that extending harmonisation of procedural criminal law will be an EU25 priority in years to come but only genuinely accompanying justice practitioners in acquiring the feeling of really sharing a common judicial culture will lead to mutual trust. The Vice-President of the Commission explains in passing that mutual trust will be boosted if three conditions are met, namely ensuring that the implementation and impact of adopted measures is subject to a systematic assessment mechanism agreed by all; encouraging the networking of justice professionals and developing judicial training; and (most importantly of all!) backing the development of high quality justice.
This series of essays focusses on how to reduce or even eliminate mistrust within the European Criminal Area. The essays were produced for an international seminar in March 2005 organised by the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council, the legal studies section of the European Studies Institute of the Université libre de Bruxelles and the Trier Academy of European Law, with financial support from the European Commission's Agis programme. Involving academics and researchers, justice practitioners and national and European civil servants, the seminar focussed on defining and outlining the issues at stake. Initially, it tried to determine the role of trust in establishing a European Criminal Area, and identify problems raised in terms of putting this into practice and in terms of its legitimacy. A fundamental analysis is carried out into the various accompanying measures which stimulate the creation of trust and establish its legitimacy. The authors look at issues like the contribution of jurisdictional control and the impact of approximating legislation, and assessment and training mechanisms. The third part of the book draws comparisons with other similar experiences (the United States, Switzerland, MERCOSUR, and others) providing useful lessons for the European Criminal Area. The book is very comprehensive, as are all the others already published in this series by Gilles de Kerchove (Director at the Council Secretariat General) and Anne Weyembergh (of the ULB).
Michel Theys
*** LAURENT MOREILLON, ALINE WILLI-JAYET: Coopération judiciaire pénale dans l'Union européenne. Helbing & Lichtenhahn / Bruylant / L.G.D.J. (8 Elisabethenstrasse, CH-4051 Basel. Tel: (41-61) 2289070 - Fax: 2289071 - e-mail: info@helbing.ch - Internet: http://www.helbing.ch ). "Dossiers de droit européen" series, No. 12. 2005, 792 pp, €81. ISBN 3-7190-2198-X.
Freedom, security and justice are three crucial concepts for modern society. Now more than ever in the current security situation, which has tended to focus attention on security and justice to the detriment of freedom, at the same time as fundamental rights have pride of place in EU rhetoric and 'judicial cooperation must not have the effect of systematically violating fundamental values.' All the same, Member States did not await the tragedies of recent years - which are far from the only motive for action - to work out a coherent response to the shortcomings of European integration. As the authors explain, generally understood from the economic viewpoint, the principle of free circulation only covers workers and neglects other fundamental aspects like the appearance and growth of organised cross-border crime, drug trafficking, illegal immigration and terrorism. This book initially outlines general trends in criminal judicial cooperation in the EU, which only really took off with the Amsterdam Treaty of 1991. The first part of the book also outlines big events in the European project because good understanding of the EU judicial cooperation requires an understanding of what is special about the European Union. This enables readers, for example, to better understand the impact of EU law on national law, why 'any penal incrimination of national law contrary to EU principles and operations remains without effect' and what the 'third pillar' means when talking about the European area of freedom, security and justice. The book explains that even though criminal judicial cooperation is meant to be a genuine cornerstone of aid and extradition within the EU, it is fragmented, subsidiary and complementary to what still seems these days to be a mosaic of aid mechanisms among the Member States. The second part of the book looks at harmonisation of criminal law, reviews the areas of intervention assigned to the EU, ranging from combatting organised crime to combatting environmental crime, via combatting corruption and cybercrime. All headings are set out in detail and in a user-friendly manner (general comments, history, subject, the rules of other international organisations, structure, content, judicial competence, amendments, current proposals, etc.). Aimed at lecturers, students and legal practitioners like judges, prosecutors and lawyers, the book certainly achieves its aim of providing a snapshot of the state of criminal judicial cooperation in the EU.
(FRo)
*** ERIC A. ENGLE: Alien Torts in Europe ? Human Rights and Tort in European Law. Zentrum für Europäische Rechtspolitik an der Universität Bremen (Universitätsallee, GW 1, 28359, Bremen). "ZERP-Diskussionspaper" series, No. 1. 2005, 72 pp.
Human rights are universally recognised these days, but respect for them is another matter, particularly in the third world. The causes of the malfunctioning of human rights are legion in the third world, ranging from corrupt government to over-worked courts, and dealing with the issue raises insurmountable questions of national sovereignty. There are courts in the world, however, which have various systems for ensuring respect of human rights in other countries without actually intervening in affairs of state. Eric Engle identifies various forms of modus operandi. On the one hand, the system in the English-speaking world, shared by both the United Kingdom and the United States, based on private law of tort to ensure respect of human rights in other countries. This has the advantage of avoiding government involvement, thereby giving courts greater freedom and allowing them to issue politically unpopular rulings. Then there are countries with civilian civil action, like France and Germany, that use criminal law as the main tool for combatting human rights violations and, unlike the English-speaking world, recommend a greater role for the state. Despite taking an opposite tack and each having its pros and cons, both methods are powerful tools in the fight to defend human rights, and both are effective, which is why the author of this book suggests taking the best of both worlds. The book starts by analysing Anglo-Saxon mechanisms, and then looks at mechanisms in France, Belgium and Germany, ending with analysis of the European Convention of Human Rights. Each section gives examples of case law and the author explains how more creative interpretation of the law would allow even greater protection of human rights.
(NDu)
*** New Young Europeans. British Council Brussels (Léopold Plaza, 108 rue du Trône, B-1050 Brussels - e-mail: enquiries@britishcouncil.be - Internet: http://www.britishcouncil.be ) and European Economic and Social Committee (99 rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels. Internet: http://www.esc.eu.int ). 2005, 192 pp.
"The police questioned me hours and hours, asking me whether I was seeking asylum, but I didn't know what asylum was. I only knew that I had to leave my country" … These simple and thought provoking words open this awesome book, words spoken by 17-year old Alpha Bah, who came to Brussels from Sierra Leone. His proud and determined face is on the cover of this book of eye witness accounts by more than one hundred young people in a similar situation in ten European cities. Interviewed for an exhibition organised by the European Economic and Social Committee, the British Council and the Petit Château asylum seeker hostel in Brussels, young people from all walks of life and all four corners of the globe, speak openly and often movingly, sometimes astonishingly funny. "I think that now, of all my friends from Iraq, Somalia, Palestine and elsewhere, I am the one with the best Scottish accent", explains an eleven year old Palestinian girl living in Glasgow, Hanin Hussein. A beautiful message from these young people, who are often just children and to whom this project has given a voice and a face. (MG)
*** FRIEDER DUNKEL, SONJA SNACKEN: Les prisons en Europe. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique? F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - e-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). "La Justice au quotidien" series. 2005, 92 pp, €10-50. ISBN 2-7475-8088-1.
The rising numbers of detainees in European prisons in recent years is a thorn in the side of most EU Member States, whose penal policies aim to cut prison populations with the aim of making it easier for detainees to get back to normal life outside, and also to ensure human dignity is respected (so often compromised by rising prison numbers). How can the living conditions of prisoners in new Member States be improved, countries whose prison wardens are often the same as during the authoritarian Communist epoch? This book looks into these questions, seeking the reason for rising prison numbers and identifying tighter penal policies as the culprit. The authors then explain the problems of overpopulation in prisons, ranging from physical violence to lack of hygiene, and over-strict prison regimes which often make it difficult for prisoners to adapt back to normal life outside. They shed light on the way penal policy in Europe tends to respect resolutions in favour of the rights of prisoners. Problems like drug addiction, over-representation of ethnic minorities and the situation facing women are also discussed. The last part of the book is a reflection on different theories of imprisonment with the am of finding solutions to the problems outlined in the book.
(NDu)
*** CHRISTIAN PHILIP: Donner un nouvel élan à l'Europe de la justice. Les conséquences de l'arrêt de la Cour de justice du 13 septembre 2005 sur les compétences pénales de la Communauté européenne. Délégation pour l'Union européenne de l'Assemblée nationale (Boutique de l'Assemblée nationale, 4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40636121 - Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Les documents d'information de l'assemblée nationale", No. 2829. 2006, 30 pp, €3-50. ISBN 2-11-119918-4.
This report by French parliamentarian Christian Philip looks at the impact of the 13 September 2005 ruling of the European Court of Justice that the European Community has the power to force Member States to produce penal sanctions to protect the environment. Will the decision shake up the sharing of power between what in the past came under the EU and intergovernmental cooperation? In any event, Christian Philip believes the ruling forces one to look at the role of the European Court of Justice. He argues that judicial federalism expressed in case law has often enabled progress to be made in the European project, but should not lead to a government of judges. To this end, he argues that it is important for political power to take the upper hand again and clarify the situation. How? Christian Philip suggest using the 'bridging clause' in Article 42 of the Treaty of the European Union to transfer penal cooperation to the Community pillar. He argues that this would strengthen the powers of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. (PBo)
*** ERRATUM. There was an error on page 3 of European Library Issue 677 dated Tuesday 7 March 2006. Michel Delebarre is not, of course, President of the European Economic and Social Committee, but rather, as regular readers are well aware, President of the Committee of the Regions. Our sincere apologies.