The European Commission has criticised Malta for ignoring its recommendations to improve the execution of the European arrest warrant system.
Referring to Malta and another five member states – Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Cyprus – the Commission said that, despite its precise recommendations, they did not take any initiative since 2007 to address its concerns.
“Unfortunately, some member states have not made amendments to their respective legislations, although they were recommended to do so in previous Council and Commission reports,” a Commission official said.
“This is even more regrettable in the case of Malta, which was expressly mentioned in the 2007 report as requiring an effort to comply fully with the Council Framework Decision,” the official noted.
The recommendations made to the Maltese authorities included the need to ensure that the execution of European arrest warrants and the consequent arrest of persons was not delayed because of the certification needed by the Attorney General and to adopt a “flexible approach” in those cases of provisional arrest with regard to the 48-hour time limit for receiving a translated warrant.
Brussels had also asked Malta to consider the possibility, at least in cases where there are manifest and objective grounds for refusal, of anticipating the magistrate’s intervention to raise the invalidity of the EAW’s request with a view to avoiding the arrest. Malta was also told to prevent the absence/unavailability of one of the specialised officials dealing with the EAW’s from hampering its execution.
“In particular, the involvement and training of one or more magistrates and prosecutors in the AG’s office should be envisaged,” the Commission recommended.
“Unfortunately, although these recommendations, which also involve amendments to Maltese legislation, have been at Malta’s disposal for years, we are not aware of any changes by the Maltese authorities yet,” the Commission official complained.
According to the latest report issued by the Commission on the execution of the EAW in the 27 member states, between 2005 and 2009 Malta issued 16 EAWs and executed seven, leading to the surrender of suspected criminals extradited to other EU member states.
On a general EU level, the Commission said member states issued 54,689 European arrest warrants between 2005 and 2009, leading to 11,630 suspects being surrendered. Over the same period, the arrest warrant had a marked effect in speeding up the transfer of suspected offenders between EU countries. Extradition before the arrest warrant system was introduced used to take an average of one year but this has now been cut to 16 days when suspects agree to surrender or 48 days when they do not.
Among those surrendered, thanks to the European arrest warrant, were a failed London bomber caught in Italy, a German serial killer tracked down in Spain, a suspected drug smuggler from Malta extradited from the UK, a gang of armed robbers sought by Italy whose members were then arrested in six EU countries and, very recently, a large international operation against highway cargo theft networks was dismantled in five countries.
However, the Commission wants more improvements.
“The European arrest warrant is an important tool to catch criminals but member states should ensure it is used correctly,” Commission Vice President Viviane Reding said.
“National governments need to build up trust between their judicial systems so that the European arrest warrant works even more efficiently. In view of their important fundamental rights implications, European arrest warrants should not be issued mechanically, or automatically, for crimes that are not very serious such as bicycle theft,” she said.