EU mulls softer rules for cross-border crime

BRUSSELS - Europeans suspected of petty crimes abroad could in future await trial in their home country rather than behind bars in the state where the alleged offence took place, under a new European Commission proposal out Tuesday (29 August).

The scheme, which would cover EU nationals inside other EU member states only, is to cut by 8,000 a year the number of suspects who spend months in prison abroad when they could be roaming freely in their home country, while reporting regularly to local police.

"They could avoid being cut off from their family and friends or losing their job, which is normally the case," commission home affairs spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said. "This applies only to little offences if you like, not murder or rape."

The move would not give suspects any new rights, such as being able to insist on repatriation, he stated, with the commission taking pains not to look soft on crime. "This is not giving a carte blanche to criminals or anything like that," the spokesman indicated.

But it would give member states a new legal mechanism for deciding the best approach case-by-case, Mr Abbing explained, with judicial authorities taking into account risk factors such as if the suspect might flee or if evidence might be lost.

The person's home country would be responsible for controlling their movements and delivering them to trial abroad, with a technological twist to the proposal specifying the suspect and his foreign accusers could keep in touch "through the use of video links."

Human rights payoff

Home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini is pushing the plan on human rights grounds, with studies showing that non-national suspects in countries such as Germany, Ireland and Portugal are much more likely to await trial in prison while own-nationals get bail.

One anonymous example cited by Brussels tells of two non-national sailors kept in jail in "member state A" for 13 months on suspicion of drugs smuggling before being released without charge, while five other own-nationals caught on the same boat got bail.

Another case of Kafkaesque proportions saw non-national "Mr X" arrested by "member state B" on suspicion of fraud in 1998, kept in prison for five months then released but forbidden to leave the country, with Mr X still stuck in member state B eight years later today due to legal delays.

Cash payoff

The commission says the scheme will also save member states up to €360 million a year in cash spent on housing the 8,000 otiose prisoners, with the study revealing interesting gaps in how much EU states pay to keep people behind bars.

Ireland has the priciest jails at €6,344 per person per month, with Sweden close behind on €6,023, while Latvia forks out just €264 and Lithuania €332 at the bottom of the scale.

The commission's idea will require unanimous approval by the 25-state EU bloc, with EU diplomats saying it is not on the Finnish EU presidency's agenda and is unlikely to enter into force before the end of 2007.