Wednesday, 3 September 2008
EU 'in absentia' trials undermine justice
The state can be a nasty animal sometimes. But thanks to the EU's fetish for creating laws and granting itself ever more power, the state's hold over the people now makes it a hideous monster. It is bad enough that basic protections in our legal system have been crushed by various European agreements and treaties.
As things stand, British subjects can be hauled away to any EU state to stand trial without any prima facie evidence being examined by a British court first. But the European Parliament has voted to make it possible for a British subject to be put on trial, possibly without them even knowing, and found guilty. Then it would be perfectly legal for that person to be dragged off overseas to serve any prison sentence handed down by the court.
The worst part of this story is that Britain was one of the seven EU member states that put the proposal forward in the first place. Not content with infringing our privacy and rights at home, Labour is trying to play the 'good European' by giving permission to other EU countries to take action that can deny British subjects their liberty under alien judicial practices. The proposal will now go before the Council of Ministers.
It is true that EU member states can opt out of this disgusting piece of legislation. But Britain will clearly not be opting out as it is working to bring the measures into being. The very concept that has been constructed is an injustice. The supposed checks and balances that can be applied after the fact are as good as useless. The response to the plans from the European Criminal Bar Association among others makes it clear just how bad the plans are, when it said in a letter to MEPs:
"The rights of European citizens will be undermined because in absentia judgments will result in the surrender of European citizens on the basis of a judgment given at a trial in which they never had the chance to participate."But then, the EU only talks in abstract about democracy and civil rights. It does not practice what it preaches, which is one of the reasons we should withdraw from its political or judicial structures. When it comes to the crunch the thirst for power and control takes over and the EU asserts itself as master over the people rather than their servant. This is so ingrained in the personality of the EU the organisation is beyond reform. The best solution is to have the relationship with the EU the people always intended - one of trade and co-operation and nothing more.
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4 comments:
It's quite simply where we are headed. If there was any doubt of it before, there is none now. We are heading towards the prescriptive, all-controlling state in the post-democracy era. Amen.
And does Camoron want to leave it?
Noooo!
There is no use blaming the Labour party for this, the Conservatives are just as complicit, remember the years you ran the country and the fiasco called the Maastricht Treaty. Yet again tony you are whinging about something that your Party has no intention of changing, you are in the wrong party.
Come on, tell me which party I should be in, Anon. I am just itching to find out. Two threads in a day with the same comment. Put an end to the suspense.
Maybe you should bear in mind that the younger grassroots of the Conservative party will one day be its leaders. That means people who will happily put an end to this EU nightmare and redefine our relationship with Europe to be about what it was always supposed to be - trade and co-operation.