the European arrest warrant - Statewatch

Proposal for a
2001/0215 (CNS)
COUNCIL FRAMEWORK DECISION
on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures
between the Member States
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 29, Article 31 (a)
and (b) and Article 34 (2)(b) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal of the Commission 1 ,
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament 2 ,
Whereas:
(1) The achievement of a Common Area of Freedom, Security and Justice is based on
mutual trust in the criminal justice systems of the Member States. Those systems are
founded on the principles of liberty, democracy and the rule of law and they respect
fundamental rights as guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950 and by the Charter of
fundamental rights of the European Union.
(2) All or some Member States are parties to a number of conventions in this field. They
include the European Convention on Extradition of 13 December 1957 and the
European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism of 27 January 1977. The
Nordic States have extradition laws with identical wording.
(3) In addition, the following three Conventions dealing wholly or in part with extradition
have been agreed upon among Member States, and form part of the Union acquis: the
Convention of 19 June 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985
on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders in relations between the
Member States which are parties to that Convention 3 , the Convention of 10 March
1995 on simplified extradition procedure between the Member States of the European
Union 4 , and the Convention of 27 September 1996 relating to Extradition between the
Member States of the European Union 5 .
(4) In order to remove the complexity and potential for delay inherent in the present
arrangements on extradition, it is necessary to introduce a new simplified scheme with
1
2
3
4
5
OJ …
OJ …
OJ L239 22.9.2000, p. 19.
OJ C78 30.3.1995, p. 1.
OJ C313 23.10.1996, p. 11.
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