Toulouse, 17/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - French Justice Minister Rachida Dati inaugurated, on Thursday 17 July in Toulouse, a seminar devoted to: “Eurojust, Joint Investigative Teams and Pooling of Procedures”.
The opening conference focused on bolstering Eurojust. The wish to tackle this theme was shared by 14 member states (Sweden, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal, Czech Republic, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovakia, Luxembourg, France and Estonia) that suggested, in early January 2008, that the agency be strengthened. Rachida Dati said “Eurojust results are certainly encouraging but there is still an effort to be made”. She went on to call for a political agreement on this issue during the next JHA Council on 24-25 July in Brussels.
The Spanish justice minister, Mariano Fernandez Bermejo, spoke of his confidence in the agency's “enormous potential” before going on to warn: “We must not forget that the development of these new structures cannot be a justification for Eurojust bureaucratisation”. The Dutch justice minister, Ernst Hirsh Ballin, called for strengthened cooperation between Eurojust and Europol - a recommendation along the lines of that made by Gilles de Kerchove, European Union Counter-Terrorism Coordinator. Regretting a “legal vacuum” in this field, however, the coordinator also called on the European Commission to prepare draft legislation on prevention and resolution of conflicts of jurisdiction.
Jacques Barrot, European Commissioner for Justice, Security and Freedom, pointed out that the European Commission clearly supported the initiative to reinforce Eurojust. He called on the states to transpose texts set out in the field of judiciary cooperation on criminal matters into national law as quickly as possible, saying: “We have to hurry: it is essential to completely transpose the instruments that Europe has given itself”. The commissioner went on to cite, among other things, mutual recognition of the freeze of assets, mutual recognition of fines or the framework decision on joint investigative teams. He also announced that the European Commission would publish a study on the shortcomings and needs of Eurojust by the end of 2008 before adopting a communication on mutual recognition in criminal matters during 2009. Speaking of the problems of financing joint investigative teams, Jacques Barrot said that funds would be made available for this within the framework of the specific programme on preventing and combating crime (2007-2013).
Renate Weber (ALDE, Romania), who is rapporteur at the European Parliament on Eurojust, underlined the presence of a paradox, saying that, although most states are in favour of strengthening Eurojust, there is a lack of confidence on the part of member states when they carry out investigations. “Why strengthen the powers of Eurojust to this point if the states do not have confidence in the agency?”, she asked. José Luis Lopes da Mota, Eurojust President, sounded a note of caution, saying: “We can thank the ministers for their political commitment. But then each member state will have to put the text in place”.
The Toulouse seminar continued during the afternoon of 17 July and on the morning of 18 July. EUROPE will come back to this. (L.B.S./transl.jl)