Senior MEP calls for reform of EU arrest warrant

THE PARLIAMENT.COM - MARTIN BANKS

Senior UK MEP Timothy Kirkhope has called for a radical reform of the European arrest warrant (EAW).

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, the ECR deputy argued that the warrant has been "misused for misdemeanours well beyond" its original intention.

According to a recent report by the campaign group Fair Trials International the high volume of requests is placing an "unjustified burden" on police and prisons.

Its report calls for sweeping changes to the operation of the EAW.

The parliamentary hearing comes amid growing criticism that judges are sending people abroad with "no questions asked" at the behest of foreign countries, often over allegations of petty crimes or offences committed many years ago, and with little regard to potentially-serious human rights abuses.