October 2010

EU governments in the Council of Ministers including the UK have adopted the final legal version of a new law giving all criminal suspects in the EU the right from arrest to trial to free interpretation and translation of questioning court proceedings and essential documents.

This is a landmark on the way to truly fair trials for all defendants Europe-wide especially those arrested or extradited abroad and would help correct flaws in the operation of the essential but not always well-implemented European Arrest Warrant. Other needed measures are in the pipeline.

European justice and home affairs ministers meeting today are discussing the delays in the EU's information systems for border checks (the Visa Information System VIS) and police cooperation (the new version of the Schengen Information System SIS II).

The UK is not part of the Visa Information System but will opt in to SIS II - for law enforcement data and purposes not affecting its own border controls - once the system becomes live.

Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford who was the European Parliament's 'rapporteur' on the Visa Information System said:

Today (Oct 18th) is the UK's first ever Anti-Slavery Day introduced into law by MPs earlier this year. Its aim is to raise awareness of the thousands of people trafficked into the UK every year to work in the sex trade or as domestic servants or the children brought here and forced to work on cannabis farms or beg on the streets.

Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford said:

"In 1807 British lawmakers made a breakthrough by passing the Slave Trade Act leading to the abolition of slavery in the British empire. But slavery persists today across the world and thousands of people are smuggled across our own borders every year and forced to work as prostitutes beggars or house servants for little or no money."

In a clear sign that they feared they were about to lose a vote for reform led by British MEPs to cut one Strasbourg plenary week from the EP calendar the French and German leaders of the 2 biggest European Parliament groups (centre-right European People's Party and centre-left Socialists & Democrats) have engineered a postponement of the vote.

Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said:

'What a stitch-up! This was obviously a cosy little deal cooked up in a desperate bid to sabotage reform."

"They are seeking to defend the absurd Strasbourg travelling circus which costs £3 million a week (€4 million) on top of the normal EP running costs."