MPs back calls to recapture powers
PRIME Minister David Cameron should take back control of more than 100 crime and policing laws from the European Union, two Conservative MPs have said.
Heather Wheeler and Andrew Bridgen, who represent South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire respectively, joined 100 fellow Tory MPs in signing a letter to the Daily Telegraph urging their leader to ‘opt out’ of 130 EU laws in the next two years or see them permanently transferred to Europe.
The signatories said the EU Commission’s desire to see a pan-European code of Euro crimes ‘highlights how Europe should be about co-operation rather than control’.
“We need practical co-operation to fight terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and other cross-border crimes — not harmonisation of national criminal laws,” they said.
“We do not wish to subordinate UK authorities to a pan-European Public Prosecutor. We do not want to see British police forces subjected to mandatory demands by European police under the European Investigation Order.
“We have deep concerns about the operation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for our citizens.
“We want the UK Supreme Court to have the last word on UK crime and policing, not the European Court of Justice.”
The MPs called on Mr Cameron to use a one-off opportunity under the 2009 Lisbon Treaty to repatriate the laws by June 2014 — or see the Luxembourg-based European Courts of Justice make Britain enforce them in full.
They said the UK would retain the right to opt back in to any specific policies on a case-by-case basis.
Opting out would allow Britain to rule on how courts applied extradition laws.
British courts can currently only block an EAW request on procedural grounds, much to the dislike of civil liberties campaigners.
Almost 200 British nationals have been surrendered to continental prosecutors since the warrants were introduced in 2004.
Campaigners say Britain would also be able to opt out of a requirement to share DNA and fingerprints with continental police forces, and a rule forcing British courts to take into account convictions in other countries — regardless of whether or not they are unsafe.
“As British co-operation with Norway after its recent terrorist attacks and our long-standing intelligence relationship with the US shows, we do not have to cede democratic control with close partners in order to co-operate effectively with them,” the signatories said.
“We should maintain our national standards of justice and democratic control over crime and policing — but let other nations integrate more closely if they wish.”
