Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 6 Nov 2001

Vol. 543 No. 2

Written Answers. - Crime Prevention.

John Dennehy

Question:

657 Mr. Dennehy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the expected timetable for the introduction of provisions for the European Union wide enforcement of arrest warrants issued by one member state in any other community member state; his views on the potential difficulties associated with operating such a system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26055/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue):

The European Commission has proposed the adoption of a framework decision on a European arrest warrant. The stated purpose of the framework decision is to replace existing extradition procedures between member states of the European Union with a simplified procedure based on a European arrest warrant; in effect replacing inter-state extradition by an inter-court procedure. The proposed arrest warrant is based on the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions and judgments by member states and provides that each national judicial authority should recognise requests for the surrender of a person, made by the judicial authority of another Member State, with a minimum of formality.

There have been discussions on the proposed European arrest warrant at two meetings of the Justice and Home Affairs Council and the issue has also been discussed on two occasions by the Heads of States and Government, most recently on Friday, 19 October in Ghent. At official level there has also been intensive discussion on these proposals, and these discussions are ongoing.

Discussions on the European arrest warrant are, in broad terms, informed by the view of the European Council that dual criminality should be abolished for a wide range of actions, in particular terrorist offences that give rise to a request for surrender. I cannot, at this stage, say what shape the final instrument will take – there are divergent views among the member states on how best to achieve the desired result. Our position in the negotiations so far has been that the proposals do raise certain difficulties. The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot be more specific at this time as negotiations on the proposal are ongoing and revised texts emerge arising from the discussions.