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Verbatim report of proceedings
Wednesday, 26 February 2014 - Strasbourg Revised edition

European Investigation Order - European Arrest Warrant (debate)
MPphoto
 

  Sarah Ludford, rapporteur. - Madam President, I agreed with almost everybody in the debate and thank them warmly for taking part.

If I may, I will single out the powerful remarks of Mr Nicholson about the situation on the island of Ireland. I even agreed with the precision of Mr Batten over the word ‘alleged’. But it will not surprise Mr Batten that my views are diametrically opposed to his. I look forward to my party leader wiping the floor – metaphorically of course – with his leader in the Nick v. Nigel debate in the UK.

I would just like to make two points that I did not cover in my opening remarks, firstly to highlight the importance that we place on addressing the question of excessively long pre-trial remand and poor prison conditions, which seriously undermine mutual trust. We are calling on the Commission to explore all the means available to improve standards of detention, including legislative proposals on the conditions of pre-trial detention.

The second point I wanted to highlight, as mentioned by one speaker, was the need for better training of legal practitioners and the need for support for defence lawyers acting in this field.

But I absolutely agree with Vice-President Reding on the importance of the procedural rights directives in the roadmap launched four years ago. I was the rapporteur on the first one. I am pressing the UK Government on the Right to a Lawyer Directive. I want the UK to implement the European Supervision Order too. I am pleased they have opted into the European Investigation Order, as into two-thirds of post-Lisbon measures. This is one of the reasons why my report calls for the timely and effective implementation of the whole body of EU criminal justice instruments, including the EIO, the ESO and procedural rights measures. I believe that Commission and Court infringement powers are necessary.

But I was rather disappointed with what I felt was the lack of a really proactive response from Vice-President Reding, saying that any re-opening of the EAW would be premature. I do not agree with that conclusion. I think that saying that our report will feed into the permanent ongoing work on reviewing the EAW is insufficient. I look forward to pressing the Commission and then working within the framework of cooperation between Parliament and the Commission to get a legislative proposal from the Commission in the year ahead. You have heard the weight of really united opinion from Parliament and that will not be ignored.

(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))

 
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