It is estimated that at any one time 4,500 EU nationals are held in custody in countries other than their normal place of residence. As they are less likely to be granted bail (because of a greater perceived of absconsions) the Commission has proposed a European supervision order (ESO), which would mean that authorities in a person's home State would also be responsible for returning them for trial. This report examines the proposal in detail and makes some recommendations for improvement. The Committee welcome the proposal and think it deserves prompt attention by Member States.
Developed as an alternative to the American and Russian military systems, the Galileo programme is an independent European navigation satellite system designed specifically for civilian applications, primarily funded and controlled by the European Union and the European Space Agency. Galileo has potential uses across many sectors, though transport applications such as road and rail traffic monitoring, road pricing systems and air traffic control have been considered key areas of benefit. An earlier Committee report on the topic (HCP 1210, session 2003-04, ISBN 9780215020550), published in November 2004, recognised the potential benefits of the programme for the UK and Europe, but raised concerns over its cost and funding sustainability unless rigorous cost-benefit analyses were undertaken. The programme is currently in its development phase, with the second of two experiemental satellites due to be launched at the end of 2007. It is not expected to be fully operational until 2013-14 (originally this phase was meant to have commenced in 2008), and until Galileo becomes operational, Europe is largely reliant on the American and Russian systems. The Committee's report examines i) the costs, funding and value for money of the programme, including the delays encountered, the UK share of costs, the collapse of the public-private partnership (PPP) negotiations and the governance and procurement strategy; and ii) the impact of the complexity of the EU decision-making process on the programme's future funding and management.
The draft Local Transport Bill consists of a package of measures intended to promote stronger joint working between local authorities and bus operators, to support the introduction of local road pricing schemes and to enable changes to be made to local transport governance. This report follows the structure of the draft Bill. Although the remarks are related to specific clauses some of the recommendations have a more general application. Included with the report is consideration of the Transport Innovation Fund, which is closely linked to congestion and the draft Bill. The Committee is however unhappy that at the end of their inquiry the Secretary of State announced further consultation on parts of the Bill related to the powers and status of the traffic commissioners on reform of the Bus Service Operators' Grant and transitional arrangements for quality contract schemes.
The Government is expected to respond to all reports from the Committee, within two months of publication The Committee then makes them available to the House and publishes them as required. This report makes 35 such responses available.
Although there has been a lot written about how counter-terrorism laws impact on human rights and civil liberties, most of this work has focussed on the most obvious or egregious kinds of human rights abrogation, such as extended detention, torture, and extraordinary rendition. Far less has been written about the complex ways in which Western governments have placed new and far-reaching limitations on freedom of speech in this context since 9/11. This book compares three liberal democracies - the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, in particular showing the commonalities and similarities in what has occurred in each country, and the changes in the appropriate parameters of freedom of speech in the counter-terrorism context since 9/11, achieved both in policy change and the justification for that change. In all three countries much speech has been criminalized in ways that were considered anachronistic, or inappropriate, in comparable policy areas prior to 9/11. This is particularly interesting because other works have suggested that the United States' unique protection of freedom of speech in the First Amendment has prevented speech being limited in that country in ways that have been pursued in others. This book shows that this kind of argument misses the detail of the policy change that has occurred, and privileges a textual reading over a more comprehensive policy-based understanding of the changes that have occurred. The author argues that we are now living a new-normal for freedom of speech, within which restrictions on speech that once would have been considered aberrant, overreaching, and impermissible are now considered ordinary, necessary, and justified as long as they occur in the counter-terrorism context. This change is persistent, and it has far reaching implications for the future of this foundational freedom.
First report of Session 2010-11 : Documents considered by the Committee on 8 September 2010, including the following recommendations for debate, the Cotonou Agreement; a twelve-point EU action plan in support of the MDGS; European security and defence pol
Large cross-border mergers have to be cleared in advance by the EC Commission. If the Commission prohibits a merger, or a third party objects to the clearance, the decision can be challenged in the Court of First Instance (CFI). However the CFI procedure can take several months, thereby prolonging uncertainty and sometimes causing bids to be abandoned. This is unsatisfactory and the CBI has proposed a new Competition Court as the way forward. This report looks at this proposal and concludes that such a court would not be the best way forward. Instead there is scope for improving current procedures by firmer case management, reducing the work load of the CFI by transferring trade mark cases, and improving the Commission's handling of cases to reduce the number and scope of challenges.
In this report, 'The Review of the Less Favoured Areas Scheme (HL Paper 98)', the European Union Committee calls for the swift adoption of reforms to the EU Less Favoured Areas (LFA) scheme, a method of distributing EU agricultural funding to disadvantaged areas where farming land might otherwise be abandoned. The report stresses that the justification for the LFA scheme is to maintain farming in marginal areas where farming activity generates benefits for the environment and landscape, rather than to compensate for regional economic hardship.
