Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, October 15, 2012

Political conflict over Europe continues

It seems that the issue of how European the UK should become is always on the table in Britain. This time it's not monetary union, but law enforcement union.

If you read enough of the entries here, you have heard about the differences between adversarial justice systems and inquisitorial systems. It's probably not crucial, but there's another difference involved in this issue: the differences between common law systems and civil law systems. If your students are conversant in all those concepts, they'll be better able to write free responses.

The guns of war: Plans to opt out of EU criminal-justice measures will prompt a fight over Britain’s role in Europe

Cameron

Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters his country would be exercising its right to opt out of a mass of European policing and crime measures…

At issue are about 130 criminal-justice arrangements… access to police databases, membership of Europol and Eurojust… and prisoner transfers. The Lisbon treaty, which came into effect in 2009, converts them from non-binding agreements into mainstream laws enforceable by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after November 2014… Britain and Ireland, common-law countries in a sea of civil law, got the right to opt out…

Many in Europe find the government’s reluctance to sign on the dotted line incomprehensible. But there is widespread unease in Britain over how some arrangements are working… Local courts have little discretion in executing other countries’ arrest warrants, even when varying standards of procedural fairness and respect for human rights make nonsense of the mutual recognition that underpins the system…

What of the domestic audience? Tory Eurosceptics are pressing for an in-out referendum on EU membership. To Mr Cameron, who does not want one, tossing them the opt-out may appeal as a placatory gesture…

But opting out would enrage the Tories’ Lib Dem coalition partners, who fought the 2010 election on a pledge to keep Britain “fully engaged” in EU crime policies and are sick of reneging on their promises. Parliament is guaranteed a vote and should get it about a year before the next election. By then the coalition partners could well be at daggers drawn, and the Lib Dems join Labour against an opt-out, in a sign of allegiances to come.