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This is the EU's idea of justice

Sunday, 14th September 2008

If you are found guilty in absentia by a court in another EU state, our government will have no option but to extradite you to serve your prison sentence there.

A measure passed by the European Parliament two weeks ago, which our own government has just endorsed, would mean that no member state could refuse to extradite an individual sought by another member state - even if that individual had been given a heavy prison term after a trial at which he was not present, could not defend himself, and may not even have known about.

The right to defend yourself in person is "not absolute", says the new regulation, so EU has decided it can be dispensed with when doing so increases "efficiency".

"Osama bin Laden has done more for European integration than anyone since Jacques Delors," says Graham Watson, the Lib Dem MEP. His claim sounds perverse - until you remember how persuasive the threat of terrorism has been in getting countries to accept pan-European steps to "integrate procedures for criminal justice", writes Alasdair Palmer in The Sunday Telegraph.

Read his column

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