Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-09-09-Speech-1-085-000"
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"en.20130909.21.1-085-000"2
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"Mr President, I am very happy about the road map on procedural rights for defendants, not least as I was privileged to be the rapporteur on the first one, the right to interpretation and translation; then of course there was the letter of rights. But this directive is probably even more important than the previous two.
The whole road map needs to be completed to significantly raise the standards of criminal justice EU-wide to go alongside the European arrest warrant and other policing and mutual recognition measures. We are already more than a decade after the EAW, so clearly it is urgent to bolster defence rights.
There are some key achievements in this directive, and I pay strong tribute to Ms Antonescu in her work. I would just highlight a few of them. There is the fact that it applies to all suspects and accused, irrespective of whether they are deprived of liberty, and that it guarantees the effective participation of the lawyer, not just tolerating the lawyer sitting in a corner of the room. It obliges Member States to take positive steps – at least for detained defendants – to ensure they are able to exercise their right to contact a lawyer. This makes sure that the rights in the directive are practical and effective. Also, as Vice-President Reding mentioned, it gives the right of dual representation to people subject to European Arrest Warrant proceedings at both ends of the process.
Being a British MEP I make no secret of my desire for the UK to opt in to this directive. We have a strong domestic regime in Britain ensuring legal advice. I thank Ms Antonescu and the other shadows for their willingness to be flexible and to accommodate a common law system like the UK’s. I believe a UK opt-in would strengthen the operation of the directive, and I sincerely hope the government reaches the conclusion that it wants to opt in.
Under future topics needing attention under the road map, I would just also emphasise the need to tackle the scandal of long pre-trial detention."@en1
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