Portugal rejects Spanish-Italian treaty on extradition
01 January 2001
Following the signing of the "Protocol on Extradition" between Spain and Italy in July last year by Justice Ministers Piero Fassino and Angel Acebes (Statewatch vol 10 no 5), the two countries have signed a treaty for "the pursuit of serious crime by superceding extradition within a common area of justice" on 28 November (see Statewatch news online, January 2001). The treaty replaces extradition procedures with administrative transfers. It also covers the mutual recognition of criminal judgements, formal procedures for requesting custody, arrests and transfers, and limiting the grounds for refusal of extradition requests. It will apply to offences including terrorism, drug trafficking, people smuggling, arms dealing and the sexual abuse of minors, carrying maximum prison sentences of no less than four years. The Italian Justice Ministry suggested that Spain and Italy are pioneering the "common area of security and justice" envisaged at the EU Tampere Summit in October 1999. Spain, whose ongoing involvement in fighting terrorism has placed it at the forefront of efforts to limit judicial scrutiny of extradition requests, has reportedly started negotiations with France, Portugal, Belgium and Germany to expand the area to which the treaty applies, through a network of bilateral treaties. This would result in fast-track progress towards the so-called "European area of justice".
During a Spain-Portugal summit in Sintra on 29 January the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Guterres, refused to sign a judicial co-operation agreement to supercede extradition procedures. He said that the Portuguese Constitution impedes his country's participation, because of its guarantees for the rights of defendants. José María Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, responded by saying that "all the countries will have to make adjustments if we consider ... the European commitment to advance towards a common legal space". Portugal would only consider such measures if the impetus came from Brussels. Josep Piqué, Spain's Foreign Minister, declared that: "It would be convenient for this kind of agreement to have European backing in order for it to become legislation which would be capable of prevailing over national laws." Spain and Portugal nonetheless agreed to set up a commission to study how the issues of replacing extradition hearings and increasing judicial cooperation between member states may be raised in a European context.
France also refused to sign up to the treaty with Spain and Italy. However, Marylise Lebranchou, Justice Minister, oversaw the creation of a joint French-Spanish working group in Madrid on 2 February. Its mandate is to analyse ways to ensure the automatic mutual recognition of criminal judgements for crimes including terrorism, the smuggling of drugs, persons or weapons, and the sexual abuse of minors. Lebranchou stressed the importance of a "close cooperation" between France and Spain on terrorism, expressing "interest" for the initiative taken by Spain and Italy. "These two countries, France and Portugal, the four from the south," she said, "should unite and work together to promote the common legal space as a main theme during the Spanish presidency of the EU", El País reported on 3 February.
An "agreement for strengthened judicial co-operation between France and Italy to create a common European space of justice" was announced by Fassino and Lebranchou on 29 January. The main priorities of this planned co-operation, according to an Italian Justice Ministry press statement, include the immediate execution of sentences and judicial decisions by replacing extradition, for cases of organised crime, human trafficking, sexual abuse of minors, drug and arms trafficking and money laundering. It also envisages simplified procedures to execute decisions on the confiscation of assets or evidence, the creation of joint investigative teams, the extension of liaison magistrates' activities, and joint assistance and formation sche