The citizens of Europe want effective co operation in the areas of justice and home affairs and they want to see success particularly in the fight against organised crime, the Fine Gael MEP, Mr John Cushnahan, said yesterday.
"However, they do not want to see this achieved at the cost of undermining individual rights and liberties," he said. Mr Cushnahan said an enhanced role for the Court of Justice and the Parliament would give considerable reassurance on this issue.
He was speaking at a conference in Limerick organised by the Centre for European Studies at the University of Limerick in association with the European Parliament and the EU Commission.
Dealing with the various EU treaty changes being discussed in the 1996 Inter Governmental Conference (IGC), Mr Cushnahan asserted there are genuine concerns that the marginalisation of the European Court of Justice under the current process threatens civil liberties, assists discrimination against third country nationals and undermines the protection of individual rights.