Onderhandelingen tussen Europees Parlement en Europese Raad over Europees Beschermingsbevel succesvol (en)

At today's session of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council the Polish Presidency concluded the political negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council concerning a draft directive dealing with European Protection Orders in criminal cases.

Now, the formal adoption of the text only requires a vote at a plenary sitting of the European Parliament and linguistic corrections by lawyers.

Polish Justice Minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski commented in Brussels today : ‘This is a major success for us. The negotiations on the draft had dragged on for two years. We achieved a breakthrough that let the Polish Presidency wrap up the talks’. Kwiatkowski had chaired the JHA meeting.

The works on a draft directive concerning European Protection Orders had been initiated by Poland and Spain. Protection orders are mainly intended to help victims of domestic violence. Statistics leave no doubt that the problem is urgent: over 134 thousand cases of domestic violence were reported last year in Poland alone (according to Blue Card procedures).

Frequently, a victim of domestic violence wants to change her place of residence to escape her traumatic experiences. Thanks to a protection order she will be able to relocate to another Member State without fear that the perpetrator will follow and continue to torment her, taking advantage of possible differences in the legal systems of the two countries.

The order will be issued at the request of the victim and will be transferred between the competent authorities of the Member States. In particular, the directive will also make it possible to transfer the application of such measures as restraining orders or, in really serious cases, the eviction of perpetrators.

During today's Council session, the ministers also considered a draft directive concerning the right to an attorney and the right to notify a third person of one's detention.

‘The draft provides for the introduction of uniform, minimum norms in penal proceedings regarding the rights of suspects and defendants to attorneys and to notify third persons about their detention,’ Kwiatkowski noted.

On civil matters, the ministers had the first opportunity to exchange views on a draft regulation introducing a European account preservation order to facilitate cross-border debt recovery in civil and commercial matters. The draft envisages the introduction of a European account preservation order that would be directly implemented in another Member State.

Joanna Debek, Presidency Spokesp