Commissioner wants to see divorce law across EU clarified, writes Jamie Smyth in Brussels.
Europe's top justice official has urged Ireland to give up its national veto over justice matters at EU level to aid the fight against terrorism and organised crime.
He has also recommended that the Government should opt in to proposed new EU legislation on divorce that would enable Irish courts to apply foreign divorce law for the first time.
EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini told The Irish Times that removing the national veto over justice matters would dramatically improve decision-making.
"If you want to succeed in fighting terrorism and fighting paedophilia, improving police transborder co-operation and so on then please Ireland reconsider the possibility to expand the power of taking decisions," said Mr Frattini, in an appeal to the Republic, which is one of a handful of EU states opposing the removal of the veto.
Last month, the commission proposed changing the voting system at EU level to enable sensitive justice laws to be approved by a qualified majority vote (QMV) rather than the current system, which requires a unanimous vote by all states. It cited delays in the approval by the 25 member states of key EU legislation, such as a plan to give criminal suspects in the EU minimal legal rights, a move which is opposed by Ireland.
Mr Frattini said one of the problems is that citizens wanted "more Europe" in justice matters such as illegal immigration and terrorism, but the EU still did not have enough powers to take decisions effectively.
The removal of the national veto from the field of justice is a key element in the stalled EU constitution. The Government is opposed to what it sees as "cherry-picking" sensitive parts of the constitution ahead of an overall institutional settlement.
Mr Frattini dismisses this argument, saying the provision to lift the veto on justice issues had already existed before the constitution. "It is not to anticipate the treaty, on the contrary it is to put in place and implement concretely an existing provision that is in the treaty of Amsterdam," he said. But he said he understands the Government's difficulty with a range of recent proposals.
"There is a need to preserve a very important and long-standing tradition of the common law system in Ireland, while co-operating at EU level, which is needed if you want to succeed in fighting terrorism," said Mr Frattini, who is hoping for an agreement on removing the national veto at a crucial EU meeting in September.
"I think Ireland could put on the table some ideas and some suggestions at the meeting. One thing I firmly believe is that all states should be constructive . . . not just say no, but please put on the table a counterproposal or a compromise," he said.
Mr Frattini also encouraged Ireland to support a proposal aimed at harmonising the type of law that applies in divorce cases. The draft regulation would give international couples greater flexibility to choose the type of national law they wanted applied in their divorce case. This could mean that Irish courts would be asked to implement liberal divorce law for Swedish or mixed couples in the Republic.
Mr Frattini said Ireland had the right to opt out under existing rules, but he said the proposal clarified the system. "Every proposal giving people more power of deciding and more margin for manoeuvre should be approved, in my opinion," he said.