MEPs urge member states to halt 'misuse' of EU arrest warrant

A new report urges member states to stop using the European arrest warrant (EAW) for petty crimes such as bicycle theft.

It says this is leading to a huge increase in the number of warrants being issued – currently 1000 a month across the EU.

In the report, the commission urges member states to issue warrants "in a proportionate way".

"There's no sense using a warrant for a bicycle thief," said EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding.

The report shows that in 2009 Poland issued the most warrants - 4844. Germany was next, with 2433.

In total across the EU 15,827 warrants were issued, of which 4431 were executed.

The figures for the UK were 220 warrants issued, 80 executed.

The EAW system has been in effect since 2004. The goal was to make extraditions across Europe more efficient.

MEP reaction to the report was swift with Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford, saying the warrant had proved a "crucially successful tool" in combating crime.

She added, "It has allowed prosecutors to quickly extradite terrorists such as the 2005 London would-be bomber as well as suspected drug smugglers and child sex offenders."

"When the average for contested EAW cases is now a mere six weeks, those who oppose the EAW need to explain in detail, which they never do, their alternative plan for stopping criminals cavorting on the Costas."

However, she is pressing for reforms, including a proportionality test, since using a warrant for a stolen bicycle is like using a "sledgehammer to crack a nut".

"Secondly, we need an explicit provision allowing a court in one member state to invoke the risk of breach of fundamental rights as justification to refuse extradition to a second member state.

"Third, the overdue programme of EU law to boost the quality of criminal justice in the 27 states and enshrine fair trials must be progressed quickly. I steered through last year the right to professional translation and interpretation, but there is much more left to do, such as on legal assistance."

Further comment came from UKIP MEP Gerard Batten, who said, "The commission cannot fail to register that the warrant has resulted in many miscarriages of justice across Europe.

"But their report fails completely to get the point. They say it is 'an important tool to catch criminals'. It isn't. It is a device for transferring suspects from one EU state to another. The police 'catch' criminal suspects, the courts should decide on the quality of evidence against them."

Batten added, "The commission says that the EAW should not be used for not very serious crimes such as 'bicycle theft'. That is a complete red herring. If someone faces judicial surrender from one country to another it is an equally serious matter for them whether it is for bicycle theft or murder.

"The whole point of the EAW is that is has stripped the courts of considering the prima facie evidence against the suspect and the power to decide if there is a proper case to answer."

He went on, "Out of 54,689 arrest warrants issued so far the commission can only quote a handful against serious criminal or terrorist suspects. These people could have been extradited under national systems that protected the entire population who are now unprotected from unjust extradition.

"We have thrown the baby out with the bathwater in the name of relentless European integration."

Meanwhile, another British MEP, S&D member Claude Moraes has called on the commission to crackdown on governments that he says are abusing European arrest warrants to extradite people accused of committing low-level offences, such as one case centring on the theft of a cupboard door.

He said there are widespread concerns that officials in some countries have been pushing for warrants in far too many cases, placing an extra burden on judicial systems for what often prove to be extremely low level offences.

Moraes said the warrant should only be used for genuinely serious crimes.

"The commission has highlighted the fact that dozens of suspected drug smugglers, murderers and child sex crime offenders have been brought back to the UK from Spain thanks to the system.

"These arrest warrants are being applied in the most ridiculous of cases. EU arrest warrants were set up to help us extradite murderers, not petty criminals.

"The commission needs to come down hard on countries that are abusing the system.

"Unless action is taken, support for these warrants will be eroded and we will lose a vital weapon in the fight against serious crime."