Lords Publishes Report on the Eurojust Regulation: Should the UK Opt-in?
29 October 2013
This report considers the question whether the UK should opt in to the negotiation of the proposed EU Regulation reforming Eurojust
The proposal, which was published in July, seeks to reform Eurojust’s governance and management, the nature of its powers and to provide for its accountability to the European Parliament and national Parliaments. It was brought forward by the Commission alongside the proposal to create a new European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). Both proposals include provisions weaving the two bodies together. Alongside this report, the Committee has published another report inviting the House to issue a Reasoned Opinion challenging the proposed EPPO on the grounds of subsidiarity.
Under the EU Treaties the UK is entitled, if it chooses, to opt-in to the negotiation of Justice and Home Affairs legislation such as this proposed Regulation reforming Eurojust. In their Explanatory Memorandum, the Government raised a number of concerns with the proposal. In this report we acknowledge that the interweaving of the two bodies complicates the question of whether the UK should opt in to the negotiation of the Eurojust Regulation but we nonetheless recommend that the Government should opt in—in particular, given the important work undertaken by Eurojust and, in light of the provisions dealing with the proposed EPPO, the need for the UK to participate in the negotiations in order to improve the Regulation.