Brussels, 28/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 25 January, the Slovenian minister for justice, Lovro Sturm, said that EU justice ministers had reached an agreement on promoting a harmonised approach in procedures on mutual recognition of decisions made in the absence of the accused (made at the informal Brdo meeting in Slovenia). Several countries: Slovenian, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Sweden were behind this initiative to obtain a clearer definition of the rights of the defence. This proposal stresses the right to a fair trial and the rights to be present during sentencing. It derives from Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Several decisions are currently part of the existing legal framework based on the principle of mutual recognition, such as the European arrest warrant. However, they do not include agreed solutions when the defence is absent from their trial and there fore undermines the every principle of legal security and cooperation. Ministers gave a positive welcome to this initiative. During the debate, the question on the balance of fundamental rights of the person and the principle of mutual recognition reappeared and needs to be thrashed out. The European Commissioner of justice, Franco Frattini, declared that ministers had to be able to reach a compromise on this text by the end of the Slovenian presidency.
Justice ministers also discussed future steps to take on e-justice and implementation of concrete projects, such as the implementation of the European justice portal. The latter should in the long term be the key point of access for citizens to legal information, the legal and administrative institutions, as well as legal experts, registrars, data bases and other services. E-justice is currently developing in several areas: interconnection of registers of bankruptcies, trade and land registers. The most advanced project is on the interconnection of legal records. At the same time, expanded use of videoconferencing on cross-border cases is planned for trials. (for hearing witnesses, experts etc.) The draft European payment order and its electronic version are also being developed. Ministers agreed for the implementation of the portal beginning in the next two years with a pilot project that is open to the public with a choice of providers. At the end of the meeting, Mr Sturm called on all participants to attend the international e-justice and e-law conference the Slovenian presidency is organising on 1-3 June 2008 in Portavoz. (B.C.)