EU action on justice and security needs democratic scrutiny

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 15th Oct 2004

The European Parliament has voted to support a five-year plan to develop EU joint policies to combat major crime and terrorism, get better management of refugee and immigration flows and uphold human rights and civil liberties.

But Baroness Sarah Ludford, London MEP and European Justice spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats warned:

"As the Parliament makes clear, this must be done with a clear distinction between what is suitable for European action because we are stronger together, and what should be left to national competence. And harmonisation will not always be necessary even for joint measures, though we do need our legal systems to trust each other enough to cooperate."

"Democratic scrutiny and accountability are in any case essential, through partnership between MEPs and MPs, in place of secret deals behind closed doors by national ministers and officials in which 'security reasons' may lead to cutting corners on matters like individual privacy."

Sarah Ludford added:

"In a world of increasing cross-border movement, it is imperative to have action at the European level to deliver security from threats and enforcement of proper border controls, while guaranteeing freedom, civil rights and high standards of justice including protection of refugees."

"Right-wing politicians in Britain like Conservatives and UKIP who oppose effective EU action must account to voters on why they pretend to be firm on law and order while opposing EU rules to get gangsters languishing on the Costa Del Sol home to face the rap."

Note:

The European Parliament vote was on a report prepared in response to the European Commission 'green paper' of June 2004. The European Council (EU summit) of prime ministers will make the final decisions on 5th November 2004. The exercise has become known as 'Tampere II' after the name of the town in Finland where the first 5-year plan was decided in 1999 under a Finnish EU presidency.