Vol. 511 No. 3
79 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the establishment at the Tampere Summit of Eurojust, an international network of prosecutors and magistrates to fight organised crime, presages the ultimate harmonisation of EU judicial systems. [21215/99]
The proposal to establish Eurojust is one of a number of key actions identified at Tampere to build in a practical way on successful mechanisms, such as Europol and the European Judicial Network, which are already in place in the fight against organised crime.
The proposal envisages Eurojust being made up of national prosecutors, magistrates or police officers of equivalent competence, detached from each member state according to its legal system. While the details for the establishment and functioning of Eurojust are not yet known, the proposal is that it will facilitate the proper co-ordination of national prosecuting authorities and of supporting criminal investigations in organised crime cases notably based on Europol's analysis. It is also proposed that it will co-operate closely with the European Judicial Network, in particular to simplify the execution of letters rogatory. The special European summit has requested the council to adopt the necessary legal instrument by the end of 2001 and Ireland will actively participate in the negotiation of that instrument.
It would not be feasible at this point to take on a global programme of harmonisation of EU judicial systems because of the very different constitutional and legal traditions across the Union. Ireland has, however, been to the forefront among member states within the EU in implementing measures in the fight against organised crime and I welcome this initiative on Eurojust as another important step in that campaign.
