Greens Call for a more Democratic Europe

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday January 23, 2003 19:06 by An Irish Green

It's OUR Europe

"Justice and Home Affairs" acounts for 40% of European law. A 'working Group' on Freedom, Justice and Security has been set up to look at improvements that might be made in this area. However they seem more interested in efficiency than in democracy.

At today's session of the Forum on Europe dealing with the work of the
Convention on the Future of Europe on Justice and Home Affairs, the Green Party
called for much greater democratic oversight of EU policy-making in this area.
The Green Party representative on the Forum, Councillor Deirdre de Burca,
pointed out that Justice and Home Affairs has become the most active policy area
of the EU, accounting for about 40% of all new EU legislation.

Responding to the keynote address by Mr. John Bruton, T.D., Chairman of the
Convention Working Group on Freedom, Justice and Security, Councillor de Burca
argued that the changes proposed by the Working Group clearly prioritised the
efficiency of decision-making procedures over the need for democratic oversight
and accountability. She stated that the Green Party supported the Working
Group's recommendations that the European Parliament should have
co-decision-making in most areas of Justice and Home Affairs.

Councillor de Burca also outlined a number of Green Party proposals concerning
necessary safeguards for protecting the rights of individuals affected by
cross-border law enforcement. She outlined her party's proposals for a
Europe-wide legal aid fund to be established and the strengthening of the powers
of the European Ombudsman to pursue complaints about the violation of human
rights.

Councillor de Burca also expressed her party's concern at the EU's common
definition of terrorism introduced in response to the events of September 11th.
She described the definition as "extremely flawed" and claimed that the
introduction of this definition combined with the recently introduced EU-wide
Search & Arrest Warrant has the potential to seriously undermine the civil
liberties of EU citizens. The Green Party is proposing that EU should ensure the
setting up of Citizen's Advice Bureau that can deal with cross-border cases and
the creation of a Euro-bail system that would allow indicted suspects to stay in
their home country while waiting for their case to come to trial instead of
being held for long periods in foreign jails.