Jack Wall
Ceist:47 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Council of Ministers meeting on 6 December 2001 to discuss common anti-terrorism measures. [32110/01]
Written Answers. - EU Council of Ministers.
The Deputy will be aware that following the tragic events in the USA on 11 September, the European Council held an extraordinary meeting to consider measures to progress the fight against international terrorism and approved a plan of action which included the introduction of a European arrest warrant, the adoption of a common definition of terrorism, the preparation of a common European list of terrorist organisations and the conclusion of a co-operation agreement between Europol and relevant US authorities.
At the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 6 and 7 December there was an extensive discussion on the proposal for a European arrest warrant which will facilitate the surrender between member states of persons wanted for trial or for the carrying out of a sentence already imposed. Agreement was reached on the proposal between 14 member states, including Ireland. One member state, however, found itself unable to signal agreement to the proposal at the Council.
As the House will be aware from discussion on this matter yesterday, I secured at the Council a number of important inclusions in the text of the proposal which, I believe, contribute to the balance which had to be struck between taking strong action against terrorism while at the same time ensuring the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms.
Last week's Council of Justice Ministers reached provisional agreement on an instrument setting out a common definitions for a range of terrorist crimes and minimum sentence thresholds for those offences. Once again, the inclusion of a clause guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms helps to achieve the appropriate balance in this instrument.
In the margins of last week's Council Europol, authorised by the Council, signed an agreement aimed at strengthening the co-operation between Europol and the US in the fight against serious crime and terrorism.