mr president this house proposed the creation of the european arrest warrant on six september two thousand and one
our proposal would still be on a shelf gathering dust if it had not been for the events in new york five days later
mr bin laden helped make it a reality and it was to me that fell the honour of piloting the measure through the house
this house insisted at the time that it should be accompanied by minimum procedural guarantees in criminal legal proceedings
the commission made its proposals in two thousand and two and undertook to see speedy action
so why is it that until recently this has been stuck in the council's in-tray
why has the commission not been waging war to see all of its proposals approved and not have them approved separately
the european arrest warrant has replaced extradition
it has substantially cut the time needed for surrender
it has encouraged direct contact between member states judicial authorities
it has ruled out decisions based on political expediency to the extent that member states surrender their own nationals
it has vastly enhanced the rule of law on our continent but the european arrest warrant relies on mutual trust and there are too many cases where such trust is called into question by our citizens
two of my constituents are currently in detention in hungary awaiting trial
though their extradition was requested over a year ago and though they have been there for two months they have not yet been indicted and their trial may yet be months away
one has lost his job and his family's main source of income
both are deprived of the company of loved ones
and yet both may be innocent of the crimes of which they are charged
cases like this give european judicial cooperation a bad name
they pour shame on the inaction of governments in council
the authors of this oral question are right they require europe's urgent attention
