Supplementary letter from Admiral The
Lord West of Spithead, GCB, DSC, to Lord Grenfell, Chairman of
the European Union Committee
I would like to thank you for inviting the Government
to attend the Sub-Committee's meeting on 6 June to discuss the
Commission's proposal for a European Supervision Order (ESO).
The transcript with suggested corrections of
the evidence given by Baroness Scotland is forwarded with this
letter. I would also like to take this opportunity to clarify
some points made at the meeting and to make you aware of developments
since the meeting took place.
First, I would like to address a misunderstanding
in Q460 about enforcement of a breach of an ESO. The Government's
position on this is that the current draft of the Framework Decision
does not provide a power of arrest for a breach of an ESO but
that such a power is desirable to enable the effective enforcement
of the process. There is, otherwise, a danger that those defendants
who are determined not to comply with the ESO could be seen to
be flouting the orders of a court and therefore undermining confidence
in the bail process generally.
Secondly, I would like to add to Baroness Scotland's
assurances that the Government is committed to engage fully with
our EU counterparts in exploring the practicalities of the proposal.
We are grateful for the suggestion that the UK could draft an
alternative proposal on this issue and we shall certainly bear
this carefully in mind. However the Committee should be aware
that the JHA Council meeting on 17th and 18th September will include
an orientation debate on the ESO proposal and that the Portuguese
Presidency will be awaiting the outcome of this debate before
deciding upon the progress of this Framework Decision. We are
currently of the view that it would not be appropriate to put
forward further proposals in addition to the Commission's own
draft in advance of this meeting.
Finally, we look forward to reading your conclusions
to your inquiry into this matter.
10 July 2007
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