‘For effective law enforcement, a common legal culture needs to be established in the European judicial area,’ said the Minister of Public Administration and Justice on Monday. He was speaking at a joint seminar of the Office of the Hungarian Prosecutor General and Eurojust – a body which promotes cooperation between the judicial authorities of EU Member States.

In his opening speech, Tibor Navracsics stressed that crime does not stop at national borders, but there are differences between the legal systems of EU Member States which can be exploited by criminals.

Therefore, he pointed out, there is a need for closer cooperation between national law enforcement authorities, and for the development of a new, pan-European judicial and legal culture. He went on to say that in addition to the mechanical transposition of EU legislation, we should pursue the dissemination of common minimum standards of procedure, and of values guiding the everyday practice of law. The key element in creating this culture is the coordination of training both at regional and European levels, which is one of the priorities of the Hungarian presidency. Mr. Navracsics said that in this regard the Visegrád countries and Croatia signed a cooperation agreement in Veszprém in early May.

He stressed that the Hungarian presidency is committed to cooperation between Member States in the field of criminal law. The Minister pointed out that one example of this is that at the next Ministerial Council meeting in June, the Hungarian presidency will try to achieve consensus among Member States regarding the first part of the draft of a directive for a so-called European Crime Investigation Decision.

(MTI; kormany.hu)