Real Constitutional Court Needed

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 23rd May 2003

Andrew Duff has published a new contribution to the Convention on the Union's Court system (in response to the Praesidium's CONV 734/03).

In a statement today Duff says: "The proposals of the Praesidium on the reform of court system are weak. They offer precious little for the citizen in terms of improving access to justice and are far too conservative with respect to the scope of judicial supervision. Once again, we see the Praesidium failing to follow the logic of constitutionalisation.

"The Convention must follow the logic of its decisions to make mandatory the Charter of Fundamental Rights, to acquire an international legal personality for the Union, and to merge the three pillars.

"It is essential that the Union develops comprehensive legal protection for its citizens and effective judicial review over all its activities. The citizen needs effective remedies in defence of fundamental rights. Why foreign and security policy should be excluded from the purview of the Court is not clear, especially as the competence of the Union is set to grow in this field. Sanctions and visas, as well as the actions of the agents of EU policy need to be covered.

"At the very least, CFSP procedural matters should be subject to intervention by the Court of Justice.

"Equally, in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice, the Praesidium is offering inadequate protection over matters which are highly sensitive for the citizen. How is it possible, for example, to justify the exclusion of Europol from judicial supervision?"