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Post by fretslider on Jul 13, 2013 16:11:52 GMT -5
Britain is set for a new row with Brussels as fresh proposals are unveiled this week for a powerful pan-European prosecutor.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, declares today that the Government will “not participate” in either the planned new prosecutor’s office or a “European police force.” Her pledge comes just days before the European Commission moves to beef up its criminal justice arm, including setting the cross-border prosecution body to “protect” the EU’s “financial interests” On Wednesday the European Commission will announce plans for the creation of the prosecutor’s office whose powers will, initially, be limited to “investigation, prosecution and bringing to justice of offences affecting the EU budget.” This is likely to involve complex fraud investigations - but the union’s £115billion-a-year budget covers large areas of spending including agriculture, regional and foreign aid, education, research and crime and border control.
Eurosceptic MPs have warned that the current plans could be the thin end of the wedge and that, in future, the EPPO could have a range of cross-border crime and justice powers which could force British citizens to face prosecution in another country without the say-so of the UK government. May today makes it clear Britain will have no truck with the latest plan, telling The Sunday Telegraph: “We are not about to transfer sovereignty to Brussels by signing up to a European Public Prosecutor.” Her comments, likely to trigger a fresh row between Britain and Brussels, come ahead of a Commons debate on Monday in which MPs will vote on coalition plans to scrap 98 EU laws relating to criminal justice and home affairs by next spring. The government will exercise a mass “opt out” of 133 measures but will then seek to opt back in 35 moves which are seen to be in the national interest. Among the 35 are the controversial European Arrest Warrant, although ministers are pushing for it to be reformed.
Some Tory Eurosceptics will vote against Mrs May’s strategy - but MPs were not predicting a mass backbench rebellion this weekend. Britain has for several years opposed moves to create a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) but Eurosceptic MPs have warned that the EU’s criminal justice agencies are gradually trying to grab more “supranational powers.” Last week a Home Office document admitted that, while the EPPO proposals required the unanimous backing of all 28 EU member states, there was a “fall-back” position which could see at least nine countries pressing ahead with the plan under a system of “enhanced co-operation.” Mrs May says today: “We are completely and utterly opposed to the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor or anything that heads in that direction. We will make sure that Britain does not participate and will not come under the jurisdiction of any such prosecutor. “Likewise, we will not have anything to do with any proposals to turn Europol into something akin to a European police force.
“There is nothing wrong with practical co-operation with other European countries on policing and criminal justice matters, especially when crime is increasingly international. But there is no reason at all for a European Public Prosecutor or anything like a European police force. “The Government has just announced its intention to exercise its opt out from 133 European justice and home affairs measures, before opting back into a limited number of measures where we believe it is in the national interest to do so.” All three main parties oppose the creation of the prosecutor’s office - including even the normally pro-EU Liberal Democrats. A Labour source said the party was against the move - but added that it was widely believed among key Opposition figures that the office would never in fact be created.
Dominic Raab, the Eurosceptic Tory MP, said: “This is a historic cross-roads for Europol and Eurojust, both of which are step-by-step assuming supranational powers. “Britain must make it crystal clear that we will be good operational partners on law enforcement, but have absolutely no intention of giving up national power to Brussels, joining a supranational police force, or ceding any authority to a European Prosecutor.” David Cameron has vowed to hold an “in/out” referendum on the EU by the end of 2017, if the Conservatives win the 2015 general election, after a major drive to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership. Even without this pledge, ministers believe the move to set up a prosecutor’s office would change the nature of Britain’s relationship with the EU so fundamentally that UK law already requires a referendum to take place if a future government sought to join up to the EPPO.
www.telegraph.co.uk/active/10178193/Theresa-May-boots-out-new-plan-for-EU-prosecutor-Home-Office-Dominic-Raab.html
The most worrying aspect for me is the toothless single chamber Parliament and the all powerful appointed Commission, There is a huge democratic defecit
