Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-21-Speech-1-135"
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"en.20050221.15.1-135"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by congratulating the rapporteur, Mr Costa, on his report and on the excellent conclusions that he set out, which, by the way, have been approved almost unanimously by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
In my opinion, this report sends a strong signal from Parliament to the Commission and the Council. It bears witness to our desire to ensure a higher quality of justice for all European citizens, I would even say for anyone within the territory of the European Union, thanks in particular to the Quality Charter for criminal justice and to the proposed evaluation system. Mutual recognition of decisions taken in criminal matters in the various Member States assumes that all the States have confidence in each other’s judicial systems. That is why we need to define common basic standards that are better harmonised whilst maintaining justified diversity, as Mr Costa has reiterated.
This is more than just procedure, however. Ensuring and checking that judges are properly trained, open-minded, level-headed, alert, efficient, conscientious and able to manage the existing means as well as possible clearly does not run counter to the essential independence they must have. We need to increase the transparency of the justice system and improve people’s perception of the working methods of judges, who sometimes suffer from a lack of credibility and trust.
Finally, I believe it is essential for us to ensure that our recommendations are followed up. We need action, not just intentions, Commissioner. That is why it is important to set up a follow-up committee made up of experts, magistrates, lawyers, users of the justice system and representatives of national parliaments with the task of assessing and evaluating the way in which our recommendations are put into effect. If we manage to implement these recommendations, we shall genuinely succeed in making the European Union a State under the rule of law. These are issues that are essential to the functioning of our democracies, respect for the law and respect for citizens' rights.
With regard to Mr Di Pietro's excellent report, I completely agree with the analysis and proposals that it contains, but I would like to stress the fact that the proposal put forward is modest, is limited to the current legal framework, which dates back to 1959, and therefore does not meet the need for the provision of information regarding criminal records. I think there was a desire to respond to the emotions aroused by the Fourniret case. We will wait impatiently, as Mr Frattini announced, for more general proposals, which are essential if we are to combat terrorism, serious crime and crime in general more effectively. The small step we have taken does not release us from moving rapidly on."@en1
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