Bid to harmonise legal aid rules in EU

Date: 13/01/2000

By Simon Coss

The European Commission will highlight the problems faced by companies and individuals who try to obtain legal aid in cross-border civil lawsuits in a report due out this month.

Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino will argue that the Union should adopt a more coherent approach to the issue, not least because the current patchwork of national rules is a serious handicap to the Union's internal market.

One of the basic problems is that EU governments use different financial criteria for deciding whether someone is eligible for assistance. This means, for example, that a person on a low income who may be granted legal aid in Germany may be deemed too wealthy to receive such help in Portugal.

Vitorino accepts that simply calling on Lisbon to match Berlin's generosity would put a huge strain on national coffers. But he will insist that a solution be found.

His report will set out a variety of options, ranging from mutual recognition of differing national regimes to reciprocal arrangements allowing those who pay their own legal costs abroad to be reimbursed when they return home.

The European Commission will highlight the problems faced by companies and individuals who try to obtain legal aid in cross-border civil lawsuits in a report due out in January 2000.