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EU Calls for Elimination of National Boundaries and State Veto on Criminal Matters

Brussels Takes Next Step Towards Pan-European State Government

By Hilary White
 
BRUSSELS, June 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The European Commission in Brussels has demanded the installation of a central office on criminal matters across the European Union, the elimination of veto powers for individual states, and of national boundaries for police.
 
The Times Online reports that the Commission said that it wanted to create a single pan-state “judicial area” by eliminating the right of member states to a veto on criminal matters. It proposes transferring decision-making powers to Brussels. The proposal would also govern the training of judges.
 
The Commission’s proposal would “lay down EU-wide rules on jurisdiction, procedural guarantees, presumption of innocence and on minimum standards for gathering of evidence,” and introduce “concrete measures to improve judicial training and the efficiency of justice systems.”
 
With the EU’s dedication to the social and political agenda of the extreme left, the decision could have serious repercussions for national sovereignty. Many countries in Europe are still holding on to their Christian foundations in law and could see their right to pass or enforce laws challenged by ruling powers antithetical to the traditional Judeo-Christian outlook.

Examples abound. In January this year, the EU passed a resolution that would ban what it calls “homophobia” in its member states. All European countries have laws prohibiting unjust discrimination and assault, but an attempt to criminalize “homophobia,” – identified as any attitude adhering to traditional moral values about sex – would create a category of thought-crime, said many critics of the law.
 
The resolution passed by a significant majority – 468 in favour, 149 against and 41 abstentions. It included a clause that could be interpreted as demanding same-sex “marriage,” requiring member states to “ensure that same-sex partners enjoy the same respect, dignity and protection as the rest of society.”
 
The only thing holding back the EU ideological juggernaut has been the veto power of individual states. This has frustrated the ruling powers in Brussels, who, according to the Times Online, complain that the process of bringing social readjustment to Europe is “cumbersome.”
 
Using the growth of Islamic terrorism as a wedge issue, José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, justified the move saying, “I hope we will honour the victims, and look frankly at what can be done at the European level to give more coherence to the fight against terrorism and organised crime.”
 
All the member states agreed in principle to the new proposal that would also set up a single court in Luxembourg to adjudicate immigration matters for sovereign states. Britain, Ireland and Denmark have an opt-out clause by which they can refuse to take part in any EU policies.
 
This week, a top Vatican official warned that the European Union’s rise to power and its leftist anti-Christian demagoguery was a threat to freedom of religious expression. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said that the Vatican fears that the Church will one day be brought "in front of some international Court” if more radical demands are listened to. 
 
He said, “Speaking in defense of the life and for the rights of the family is becoming in some societies a type of crime against the State, a form of disobedience to the Government, a discrimination against women.”
 
Neil O’Brien, of the British think tank Open Europe, echoed the Cardinal’s concerns saying, “If the Government are serious about cracking down on crime, the last thing we need is to have unelected EU judges getting in the way. Once again the Government are just going with the flow and quietly handing over more powers to the EU.”
 
British MP, Graham Brady, Tory opposition critic on Europe said the move was an attempt to bring in the failed EU constitution “through the back door.”
 
“At a time when ministers are queueing up to argue over who is to blame for the failings of our criminal justice system, it would be absurd to hand over powers on policing and criminal justice to Brussels,” Brady said.
 
Vatican Cardinal Fears Church Will be Brought before International Court for Defense of Life and Family
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062801.html
 
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
EU Passes Resolution Banning “Homophobia” 468 -149
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011909.html
 
EU Conference Says World is a Cruel Place Because of Catholic Church
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05110410.html
 
Gorbachev Calls for "New World Order”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/04100601.html

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