Bluemerle

Italians block European arrest warrant

While Britain engages in its never-ending and never-changing fight about
what was and what was not meant by a particular set of weasel-words that
appeared to give the government and opt-out but actually did not, the
Italian parliament has cheerfully blocked the Bill that was going to put
the European arrest warrant INTO phpbb_Italian law.

Italy is the last country to hold out against the European arrest warrant
that lists 32 different crimes, including the hard-to-define one of
xenophobia, that will do away what is often described as the cumbersome
system of extradition.

Well, of course, it depends on how you look at it. Cumbersomeness may be a
nuisance or it may be quite useful. Anyone who cherishes the idea of
freedom has to oppose the very idea of an "efficient government", whatever
that may be. Actually, the most oppressive governments remain inefficient,
as they have to waste so much time, money and energy on the structure of
oppression.

Extradition treaties with all the paraphernalia of double jeopardy and
having to go through various courts and having to prove grounds for the
request seem like an extremely bad idea. Until you look at the opposite:
people being whisked off to other countries on dubious grounds, accused of
crimes that may or may not be acknowledged as crimes in their own country.

It says something about the British government that this was one of the
first countries to sign up to the European arrest warrant and it says
something about the British media that the whole problem was forgotten in
no time at all.

But the Italians are holding out. A combination of left-wing opposition to
the Bill and Northern League opposition to the warrant as a whole voted it
down, disliking Article 4 that diminishes if not completely destroys the
role of the national Justice Minister.

There have been some exchanges between the unexpected allies, each accusing
the other of hypocrisy and bad attitude but the fact remains that
discussion of the Bill will have to be resumed next week.


# posted by Helen @ 6:34 PM |
http://www.eureferendum.blogspot.com/

mkpdavies

I get the impression that governments put up a show of defiance sometimes, just to keep the pretence going that they actually care. Sooner or later they will just sign up.

Look at Blairs red lines of defiance, which have already faded to pink and soon to nothing at all.

It's a joke.

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