Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-05-Speech-3-171"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20031105.13.3-171"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, first of all there is a debate over whether the European Union should be discussing things in relation to common standards on procedural law. In reality, however, we also have to realise that a lot of oppressive legislation has been brought in recently
just one of the things mentioned tonight is the European arrest warrant
and at the very least we need something to counterbalance that to ensure the rights of suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings. This goes some way towards ensuring that in methods of investigation, for example, there is some sort of standard. There also needs to be an assurance in many Member States in relation to the right to bail: I believe people should have this right.
As many speakers have mentioned, we know that in many situations there are problems regarding access to legal representatives before and during trials. We need to ensure that this is not the case. Something needs to be put in there to guarantee the rights of suspects, because at the end of the day they are suspects: they have not been convicted and therefore their rights should be protected.
When we take into consideration the fact that a lot of repressive legislation has been passed by the European Union in recent times without any public debate or any real participation by the citizens in the Member States, the very least we can do is ensure that the rights of people are protected. The same goes for interpretation and translation for many defendants. This is the situation in many countries as a result of the legislation has been brought in under the guise of combating terrorism. Many of these people who are suspects do not have the right to proper interpretation or translation and, therefore, these people cannot be guaranteed the right to a fair trial, or the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty beyond any doubt.
Unless we in the European Union actually ensure that these kinds of measures are protected, we cannot push for any other oppressive legislation. As some people here have mentioned in relation to the European arrest warrant, there should be pre-conditions attached to that. I do not actually favour the European arrest warrant but, at the very least, minimum guarantees have to be put in place before any more legislation is agreed by the European Union. The Union has, over the last months and years, infringed on people's very basic rights, which are enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. The presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial are basic things that anybody in a democracy would feel entitled to."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples