EU: The traditional bi-national exchange of intelligence is no longer enough, in the face of the global threat of terrorism, according to the EU Justice Commissioner, Mr António Vitorino.
The Commissioner was speaking at the Institute of Criminology in UCD this week.
"We should have a change in our cultural approach to a new multilateral form of co-operation against terrorism," he said. "We know that a piece of information that appears to be totally irrelevant in a bilateral exchange could throw light on an investigation in a third country. In relation to Madrid, we would have learned a lot if we paid more attention to what happened \ Casablanca."
Mr Vitorino said that there were two aspects of EU co-operation on justice. On the one hand there were criminal activities that by their nature were cross-border activities, like trafficking in drugs and human beings, international fraud, counterfeiting the euro and international terrorism.
It was necessary to combat them on a transnational basis. There needed to be approximation on definitions of such crimes. He said the Commission would soon be putting forward proposals for enhanced co-operation, including increased co-operation against terrorism.
On the other hand there were offences that did not need approximation of definitions, such as murder and rape. Here the recognition of the European Arrest Warrant arose, whereby a warrant issued by a court in one state would be acted upon in another.
He said there also needed to be approximation in the laws of criminal procedure. There were different traditions and values among EU states, and each state must be allowed to find its own rules. The areas where approximation was needed were specifically guarantees for those most directly affected, the victims and defendants. "I am not saying all rules should be approximated. But we should have common minimum standards," he said.
Access to a lawyer and to interpretation of court proceedings were among the necessary minimum standards, he said.