Spanje stuurt aan op invoering European Protection Order (en)
Spain's Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamaño, said today at the end of the first session of the Justice and Home Affairs Council that there is a “strong foundation” for achieving an agreement, "if possible a binding or regulatory one", on the European Protection Order during the Spanish Presidency.
The Spanish minister said the goal of this initiative is supported by 11 countries, as well as Spain, which see the European Protection Order as one of the priorities of the Spanish Presidency in the field of justice.
The European Protection Order will provide protection to all victims, but particularly to those who have suffered gender violence, and would be especially useful to ensure that restraining orders would apply across the whole EU.
Currently there is no legal basis in the EU to enable a country to recognise protection for a victim granted in another EU member state, which led to some member states raising concerns about the technical and legal problems that the regulation could cause.
However, Caamaño said he was confident that these technical obstacles and civil and criminal jurisdiction problems could be overcome. “The Council has displayed unequivocal political backing, and this gives us the encouragement we need to work towards the necessary solutions in this area”, he added.
“We are optimistic about carrying on the work to achieve this objective during the Spanish Presidency”, he stressed.
However, the European Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding i, called for "further studies" into the proposal, pointing out the difficulties of approving a proposed directive before the end of the Spanish Presidency.