The European Commission wants more powers for Eurojust in the fight against organized crime and terrorism, the executive body of the European Union (EU) said on Tuesday.
"The fight against transnational organized crime and terrorism cannot be fought by the member states individually. Cooperation is an absolute necessity and figures show that member states rely more and more on Eurojust when investigating and prosecuting these types of serious crime." said commission Vice President Franco Frattini, who is responsible for justice, freedom and security affairs.
"Improvements are needed in order to provide Eurojust with the powers necessary to fulfill its tasks and act more effectively in the fight against organized crime and terrorism."
In a document adopted by the commission on Tuesday, it suggested more powers for both individual national representatives in Eurojust and for the college of national representatives as a whole.
Currently, member states attribute substantially different powers to their national representatives in Eurojust.
Eurojust is aimed at stimulating and improving coordination and cooperation between judicial authorities of the member states in the fight against transnational organized crime and terrorism. All 27 EU member states are represented in The Hague-based Eurojust, which started its work in 2002.
The commission also wants to strengthen liaison between Eurojust and the European Judicial Network, which has similar objectives with Eurojust.
Unlike Eurojust, the European Judicial Network works through " contact points" in member states. Its task is to facilitate judicial cooperation by establishing appropriate contacts between the authorities involved and providing practical and legal information.
Justice is an area where member states are sensitive to their sovereignty. The commission proposals will be discussed by member states at a seminar in Lisbon next week. The decision-making council of ministers will carry out an impact assessment to examine impacts of different options to improve Eurojust.
Depending on the outcome of the seminar and the impact assessment, the commission will decide whether or not to put forward a legislative proposal in 2008.
Source: Xinhua
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