EU "Harmonizes" Repression. (Insider Report).

European Union (EU) leaders gathered at the Royal Palace in Laeken, Belgium, in mid-December to put in place plans for a new "global superpower." According to the December 16th Washington Post, the EU summit launched "a constitutional convention to design a federated Europe that could govern more than a half-billion people from Dublin to Dubrovnik before the end of this decade."

At present the EU claims to represent "about 380 million people in 15 countries who share a common president, parliament, court system, central bank, anthem, bill of rights and 80,000 pages of legal code." One important subject on the agenda at Laeken was a proposal to put enforcement teeth into the EU's legal code by authorizing the issuance of union-wide arrest warrants. George PascoeWatson of the London Sun points out that under such warrants, British citizens "can be seized and handed over to a EU country to face trial, even if they have done nothing wrong under British laws."

The measure, which was described as an important part of "the international crackdown on terrorism," ensures that "suspects will be fast-tracked to justice and barred from using the appeals system to stay ahead of the law," noted the Sun. The London paper also pointed out that "British police officers will be expected to arrest citizens on the orders of the foreign courts -- a huge change in the UK's constitution." In principle, this arrangement would someday permit authorities in Istanbul to seize and prosecute an Englishman for "offenses" against Turkish law. If we listen carefully, we can hear Richard the Lionhearted rolling in his grave.

"One cannot rule out the possibility that the European arrest warrant system could be widened to other crimes or abused," protested Michel Tubiana, vice-president of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues. Referring to the concept of "harmonization," through which the cultures, economies, and political systems of European Union member states are to be blended together, Tubiana declared: "The pretext of harmonization is a false one. The authorities are prepared to harmonize repression but not defense of human rights."

Incidentally, the new EU-wide arrest warrant system was approved shortly after the European Parliament passed a resolution refusing to extradite suspected terrorists to the United States -- unless the Bush administration reverses its position on capital punishment and the use of military tribunals.