MEP defends European Arrest Warrant

Simon Busuttil: “Freedom of movement of persons requires free movement of justice”.

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil has defended the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) as an “effective legal instrument” in the pursuit of justice in cases of a cross-border nature.

He was speaking during a plenary debate in the European Parliament dedicated to the EAW.

Citing its success in facilitating the arrest of drug traffickers, murderers and persons who abused children, Busuttil said that the “freedom of movement in Europe opened the door to criminals as well a bona fide persons” and this was why an instrument was needed to expedite criminal proceedings at the European level.

The EAW enables suspected criminals to be sent from one Member State to another to face charges and since 2004 has replaced the expensive and long-drawn extradition system that used to bog down justice in Europe for years.

Busuttil joined other MEPs in stressing the need for a proportionate and non-abusive use of EAW, including the need to safeguard citizens’ fundamental rights at all times.

Earlier this year, Sweden made a controversial EAW request to the UK to hand over Wikileaks’s founder Julian Assange. However, Busuttil noted that there are a number of other colourful uses of the EAW. In one case the EAW was used for minor offences such as the theft of a piglet and in another for the theft of two car tyres.

Such cases, Busuttil said, risked undermining the credibility of an otherwise important tool.

The European Commission estimates that the EAW has shortened the average time taken for an extradition request from more than 9 months to less than 90 days. Although conscious of this success, the Commission is currently formulating a proposal to change the EAW so as to avoid “disproportionate use” and to ensure adequate legal representation for the accused in both the warrant-issuing and executing countries.