Allister defends integrity of British justice against EU inroads
03 September 2008
In a debate in the European Parliament on a variety of justice issues, including mutual recognition by the UK of convictions made elsewhere in the EU in the accused's absence, Ulster MEP and QC, Jim Allister, spoke out strongly against compromising both the integrity and independence of the British justice system.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
Jim Allister (NI). – Madam President, no sensible person wants to make life easy for criminals, but we do have to guard against justice in Europe being reduced to the lowest common denominator. And with such a wide range of judicial procedures, safeguards and processes across the EU, talk of obtaining judicial equivalence often involves exactly that.
In the United Kingdom, our common-law-based legal system is quite different in practice, precedent and processes to the system in our continental neighbours. So when I see reports that are predicated on the fusion of practice for fusion’s sake, I must be concerned.
I take the report on mutual recognition of judgments in absentia. I frankly say that there is not equivalence between the painstaking judicial precautions taken before someone is convicted in absentia in the United Kingdom and what seems to me the far more casual approach in, for example, Greece or Bulgaria. Therefore, I do not agree that my British constituent convicted there in his absence should have that conviction automatically recognised in the UK. If that makes me a bad European, then so be it."
