EU arrest warrant overruled in Germany

A German ruling overturning the European Arrest Warrant is “not very helpful” to the EU’s fight against terrorism, the European Commission has said.

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court blocked attempts to extradite a suspected al Qaeda financier to Spain, ruling that Berlin’s implementation of the arrest warrant was unlawful.

The European Commission is playing down the significance of the court’s 38 page judgement by emphasising the ruling is against German implementation of legislation not the EU law itself.

"From a first reading, it's a judgment that declares null and void the German implementation law, not the European arrest warrant."

“From the commission’s perspective the judgment confirms the framework decision on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW),” said a spokesman.

“The commission of course regrets that for the time being Germany will have no EAW.”

“We very much hope the German authorities will redress the deficiencies in their national implementing laws so we can have the EAW functioning in Germany.”

Judges ordered the release of Mamoun Darkazanli a German-Syrian businessman fighting his handover to Spain under the EAW.

Darkazanli is suspected to have links to Al Qaeda and to some of the September 2001 suicide attackers on the US.

The arrest warrant was introduced in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington and is regarded as a key instrument in the EU’s war on terror.

A commission spokesman stressed that the latest setback for the EAW – which has faced a series of challenges – would not hit the legislation, and anti-terror efforts, at the EU level.

“It is obviously not very helpful,” he said.

“The EAW has proved to be an extremely important instrument in the fight against terrorism and organised crime.”

The EAW has also been challenged in Poland and last week the country’s constitutional court ruled that Warsaw must replace existing legislation by the end of 2006.

• Previous article
• Next article