How will measures to improve judicial cooperation within the EU affect the rights of its citizens?
An area of justice cannot be created without protecting the rights of individuals. The 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which applies in all EU Member States, already provides a set of rights enjoyed by everyone in the EU. Those rights can be enforced in national courts and, after all national remedies have been exhausted, there remains the possibility to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Some people argue that measures to improve judicial cooperation will harm the rights of those accused of crimes in a Member State other their own. The Commission does not agree. All Member States are bound by the ECHR. Increased judicial cooperation should also in some cases improve the position of those accused of crimes. For example, a court may be more willing to grant pre-trial bail to a person normally living in another Member State if it is sure that, if the person did not surrender themselves for trial, they could forcibly be brought before the court.
