Criminals Without Borders

"The problem was that there was no proper system and hadn't ever been a proper system for the exchange of information between European countries." Rt Hon Tony Blair, during weekly 'Prime Minister's Questions' in the House of Commons today.

The problem stems from the "freedom of establishment" which permits the citizen of any European Union member state freely to set up residence in another state is the "Europe without borders".

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The UK is compelled to permit entry to the citizens of 26 other member states. The number that has taken advantage of this must be well into the millions by now. Perforce, it includes a goodly number of criminals who have upped sticks to pastures new, and fresh victims. In the absence of a system to ensure otherwise, and without compulsion and sanctions, there is no way the police can identify these people, or get access to their criminal records.

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Thus it is that a Judge, in desperation calls for an EU criminal records system.

Judge Stephen Robbins, who made the call after "serious difficulties" had been experienced in getting accurate information on the previous crimes of foreign offenders, saying that it was a "matter of pubic concern" that the courts in England were having these problems.

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Trying to check on the previous convictions of two Lithuanians convicted of gun-running had shown how "very difficult it was to glean details, let alone precise details" from their home country, Judge Robbins said.

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Despite all the efforts that had been made, it had not been possible to find out details of the criminal careers of the Lithuanians. Nor had the police had not been able to determine whether a 10-year sentence that one of the men had received had been imposed for rape. Apart from confirming that he and his co-defendant had been in trouble before, a prosecution office in Lithuania had been able to provide nothing more than a useless list of penal codes, some of which were outdated.

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What we are seeing, and what the Prime Minister was commenting on, is a system of EU integration which is incomplete and throws up all sorts of anomalies and inconsistencies – which can only be resolved by much more integration. The alternative that we in the UK would be better off out of the EU is clearly not regarded as an option. Yet it is the solition to the serious problem Mr Blair alluded to this afternoon.