Brussels, 08/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 8 July, the European Commission adopted a proposal aimed to improve the protection of the rights of defendants, by giving them certain procedural rights in the framework of criminal proceedings. As we announced in the previous edition of our bulletin, the framework decision aims, amongst other things, to harmonise the right to interpretation and translation during criminal proceedings (EUROPE 9937).
A "step-by-step" approach. The main elements of this text were previously included in a proposal put forward by the Commission in 2004. This recommended advances for six essential procedural rights: free access to the services of an interpreter or translator, the right to be notified of one's rights in writing, procedural guarantees for people who are incapable of understanding or following proceedings, the right to inform one's family of a detention situation, the right for those held abroad to consular assistance, access to the assistance of a lawyer, within the best possible timeframe, for the entire criminal proceedings. It was on this last point in particular the Council failed to reach consensus. "The 2004 proposal did not succeed. Negotiations have been at deadlock since 2007", said Jacques Barrot, the European commissioner with responsibility for justice. Six member states were fiercely opposed to a compromise: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. At the time, this deadlock forced the Commission to consider the proposal of reinforced cooperation in this field (EUROPE 9373). With this new proposal, the European executive intends to carry on with the outlines of its previous idea, in other words to work together on a raft of minimum common rules in the field of procedural guarantees in the EU. But the procedure has changed. “We have decided on a new approach, on a step-by-step basis”, explained Mr Barrot. “We are not abandoning the five other procedural rights on which we would like to move forward, but we will proceed in stages (…). We will propose to the legislator that each right is examined separately and everyone will take their own responsibilities", he added.
Added value of the proposal. The new framework decision stresses the "most symbolic" right, Mr Barrot explained, because it will mean that a suspect must be able to understand what he or she is accused of in order to be able to exercise his or her right to defence. This is particularly important, as the right to interpretation and translation already features in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), even though this is not always put into practice, due to complex and extremely long cases, the commissioner stressed. He described the "added value" of the proposal as follows. First of all, it clarifies the right to translation which arises from the Court of Strasbourg's interpretation of the ECHR. The right for suspects will be taken up into the legislation of the member states and may therefore be used to bring appeals in the event of infringements. Lastly, this right will be applied to the European arrest warrant.
Towards an agreement at the Council. The commissioner was very optimistic at the chances of the new draft's being adopted by the Council. "Together with the Swedish Presidency, we have consulted the member states which were least favourable towards the 2004 proposal on this right to interpretation and translation and a broad consensus is forming (...). The ground has been prepared and we believe that the Council will agree". He went on to explain that with the Treaty of Lisbon, the Commission will be able to insert a new legal base into the text, which may mean that it will be possible to bring infringement procedures before the Court of Justice against any states which fail to observe this legislation. (B.C./transl.fl)