| Author (Person) | Cronin, David |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.11, No.17, 4.5.05 |
| Publication Date | 04/05/2005 |
| Content Type | News |
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By David Cronin Date: 04/05/05 Luxembourg's EU presidency has suggested that sharing details of criminal convictions between member states could prove too cumbersome and costly. The idea of exchanging information on criminals was identified as a priority measure in The Hague Programme, the blueprint for greater co-operation in justice and home affairs approved by the Union's leaders in November last year. Although the idea had been around for some time, it received a fresh impetus during 2004 when serious shortcomings in police co-operation came to light in the case of self-confessed child killer Michel Fourniret. Despite having a previous conviction for rape in France, the forester was able to commit a series of crimes on both sides of the Franco-Belgian border before being apprehended. In a paper, Luxembourg asks if it is feasible to have a systematic sharing of details on convictions between the EU's 25 states. It concludes that the "overburdening of national registers [of convictions] would be significant and would entail administrative bureaucracy, extra cost and delays". With the large number of current member states and further enlargement of the EU on the horizon, "increasing computer and linguistic difficulties would be likely", it adds. But it also identifies potential advantages to exchanging criminal records. For example, it suggests that systematic consultation between EU states should theoretically mean that "exhaustive information" could be obtained on any previous convictions a criminal may have. While the idea of having a central register of all convictions handed down in the EU had been mooted, the European Commission has instead recommended information-sharing based on national registers. Although this would fall short of a central EU database, a pilot scheme for linking up criminal records has been devised by France, Spain, Belgium and Germany. A spokesman for France's justice ministry said he did not see why this could not eventually be expanded to the EU25. Last month justice ministers agreed that each member state would be obliged to record all convictions handed down to their nationals by courts in other member states. The Commission has been asked to recommend before the summer how such details can be shared between national authorities and how long they should be kept on file. A Commission official said the EU executive was working on a system which will not impose additional workloads on authorities seeking information. A study on how much this will cost is being undertaken, the official added. Juliano Franco from the Academy of European Law in Trier, Germany, said that the idea of information-sharing raised questions of data protection, as well as of whether details of convictions should be stored indefinitely. As there was a philosophy that people convicted had "already paid their dues" to society, he said, there could be grounds for deleting some criminal records after a certain period. Still, he argued that the Fourniret case illustrated how improvements in co-operation across the EU were necessary. l The Commission will next week present its plan for implementing the five-year Hague programme on improving co-operation in justice and home affairs. The programme, approved by EU leaders in November last year, urges the setting up of a European Return Fund for expelling failed asylum-seekers from the Union's territory and suggests that the amount of aid poor countries receive should be linked to how they handle migration issues. It argues that by 2008 police officers in one member state should have greater access to data held by authorities in another than they do at present. It also contends that a strategy tackling the roots of terrorism, by addressing the poverty and alienation which can encourage extremism, should be devised during 2006. The action plan is to be discussed at the June EU summit. Article reports that Luxembourg's EU presidency suggested that sharing details of criminal convictions between Member States could prove too cumbersome and costly. The idea of exchanging information on criminals had been identified as a priority measure in The Hague Programme, the blueprint for greater co-operation in Justice and Home Affairs approved by the European Union's leaders in November 2004. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
