Luxembourg, 02/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - After 18 months of negotiation, Germany is still blocking attempts being made by the Austrian Presidency and the Commission to push forward the proposal for a framework decision concerning the European Evidence Warrant (for which unanimity is required). “A single Member State can block adoption of a decision, when all other States agree”, Austria's Justice Minister Karin Gastinger said indignantly after the Justice and Home Affairs Council held in Luxembourg on 27 and 28 April. She did not, however, name the State doing the blocking. “This situation could take more time”, she went on to add, saying that it could last until the European Constitution is adopted. And yet, she remarked, “police and legal cooperation is important as these are aspects for which citizens expect decisions from us”.
Germany trusts that the European Evidence Warrant will be based on a joint definition of certain offences among the 32 existing categories, in particular terrorism, cybercrime, extortion and embezzlement, racism and xenophobia, environmental crime and sabotage. If no common definition is found, Germany plans to apply the principle of double incrimination, harming the spirit of the proposal which is based on the principle of mutual recognition. In so doing, “Germany clearly announces that it wants to subject the European Evidence Warrant to the same reasoning”, a diplomatic source states. Such behaviour on the part of Germany results from the ruling made by the constitutional court in Karlsruhe in July 2005 regarding the European Arrest Warrant. The only other difficulty on this text comes from the Netherlands, mainly because of a territoriality clause. Ms Gastinger states she “hopes” a political agreement will be reached at the JHA Council in June, but nonetheless warns that this task is a “very ambitious” one.
Very little progress has been made on the 2004 proposal for a framework decision concerning the common minimum norms on procedural guarantees in criminal cases (EUROPE 9110). An informal working group will be set up with a brief for establishing a compromise proposal, Ms Gastinger said. The EU justice ministers also discussed a proposal for a framework decision aimed at facilitating the transfer of detainees between Member States. Based on the principle of mutual recognition, this initiative from Austria, Sweden and Finland aims to allow better reinsertion of detainees in the countries where they have ties. A majority of Member States are for now opposed to this proposal as, in each State, the crime determines the punishment to be inflicted. A somewhat pessimistic statement was made on the progress of criminal cooperation in the EU. “There is a problem of good political will. Those who work in the field, the judges, understand better than the politicians that it is necessary to work together”, Commissioner Frattini said.
The Council reached an agreement relating to the procedure for handing detainees over between the European Union and Iceland and Norway. Negotiated since 2003, the agreement aims to replace the extradition procedures between EU Member States and these two countries by a handover procedure, inspired by a number of the provisions contained in the 1996 extradition convention as well as the framework decision on the European Arrest Warrant.
The Council has reached a consensus in the context of the fight against organised crime on the 2005 proposal for a framework decision on combating organised crime. Under the terms of this agreement, each Member State must take the necessary measures to ensure that participation (even ineffective) in organised crime is liable to a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 2 to 5 years. The own-initiative report by MEP Bill Newton-Dunn (ALDE, UK) relating to this text had been adopted October last (EUROPE 9059).
The Council also adopted two decisions aimed at extending application of two regulations on civil and commercial matters to Denmark. In March this year, the EP had been in favour of extending two regulations to this country (EUROPE 9162).