UK’s 2014 block opt-out decision: joint committee statement
7 November 2014
UK’s 2014 block opt-out decision: rejoining the European Arrest Warrant and 34 other EU police and criminal justice measures
On Monday, the House of Commons will debate the draft Criminal Justice and Data Protection (Protocol No. 36) Regulations 2014.
These obscurely named Regulations are linked to the Government’s decision, taken in July 2013, to opt out en masse of around 110 EU police and criminal justice measures agreed before the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, in December 2009, and to seek to opt back into 35 of these measures, including the European Arrest Warrant.
Block opt-out decision
Over the past 18 months the European Scrutiny Committee, Home Affairs and Justice Committees in the Commons, and the House of Lords European Union Committee, have produced a series of Reports on the complex legal and operational issues associated with the UK’s block opt-out decision, and the decision — which has yet to be made — on which measures the UK should rejoin.
The Government can be in no doubt that the Committees have been critical of its reluctance to engage constructively with Parliament. All three Commons Committees have made clear that Parliament should have a genuine opportunity to debate and vote on the measures the UK should seek to rejoin.
The European Scrutiny Committee has called for the Government to table a separate motion for each of the 35 measures it proposes to rejoin.
Debate recommend
The Home Affairs Committee has called for a separate motion on the European Arrest Warrant and indicated that the remaining package of measures should be considered on a single motion, which Members may amend to add or subtract measures from the Government’s proposed list. It has made clear that the House should have an opportunity, at the conclusion of the debate, to come to a decision on each amendment that has been selected for consideration.
The Justice Committee has similarly recommended that the debate and vote on the measures the Government proposes to rejoin should be in a form that enable the House to express a view on the addition or subtraction of measures from the Government’s list of 35.
The form of debate and vote proposed by the Government on Monday falls far short of the Committees’ expectations and, once again, demonstrates the Government’s cavalier approach to Parliamentary scrutiny of this important matter.
Government proposes to rejoin
The motion to be considered by the House of Commons concerns a Statutory Instrument — the draft Criminal Justice and Data Protection (Protocol No. 36) Regulations 2014 — which is only intended to complete the implementation, in UK law, of 10 of the 35 measures the Government proposes to rejoin. It has no direct relevance to the European Arrest Warrant, the most contentious of the 35 measures, or to UK participation in EU Agencies such as Europol and Eurojust.
The motion would simply approve a draft Statutory Instrument on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis; it cannot be amended; and it only relates to 10 of the 35 measures the Government intends to rejoin. The House is powerless to propose alterations to the list of measures which it considers reflect the UK’s national interest.
Chairs' comments
Sir William Cash MP, Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, says:
"When we embarked on the process of scrutinising the Government’s approach to the 2014 block opt-out decision, we did so in the expectation that Parliament would have a genuine say in determining the measures the Government should seek to rejoin. We do not accept that the motion tabled by the Government for Monday’s debate fulfils the Government’s commitment to engage constructively with Parliament, or its undertaking to hold a further vote in both Houses of Parliament before making a formal application to rejoin any measures. We expect Parliament to have a further opportunity to vote on the full 35 measures on the basis of an amendable motion or motions."
Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, says:
"Members of the House are expecting a separate vote on whether or not to rejoin the European Arrest Warrant. Monday’s debate, on an unamendable, take-it-or-leave-it package, will not give us that opportunity. The Government must now arrange a debate and vote which meets the expectations of our Committees and the undertakings it has already given."
Sir Alan Beith MP, Chair of the Justice Committee, says
"The Justice Committee has made clear its view that the House should have the opportunity to vote on whether items should be subtracted from or added to the opt-in list."
Background
The Government’s decision on the block opt-out will determine the extent to which two EU institutions – the Commission and the Court of Justice – will have a role in overseeing the application in the UK of EU police and criminal justice measures agreed before the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009. Whilst the significance of each of these measures will vary, it is clear that some, notably the European Arrest Warrant, raise issues concerning public safety and security as well as the protection of individual rights.