Madam President, following on from Mr Deprez's excellent report, it seems to me rather tragic that I have to address this House on matters which frankly, here in the twenty-first century, we should not have to be debating, let alone dealing with: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Only a few short years ago, I was the UK minister responsible for legislation, setting up the appropriate mechanisms for dealing with war criminals from a past era. It is therefore particularly sad that we have a situation where there are still many extremely evil people in the world who behave in a manner which is totally unacceptable to all decent people who believe in democracy and the freedom of individuals, as I do. I want to say a word or two about this report, because some people have commented that it is unnecessary to have a system of contact points in Europe to deal with these matters, that there is already plenty of cooperation at police level, for instance, and justice ministry level. Sadly, that is not the case. Although we had the statute for the International Criminal Court in July 1998, this is ultimately a matter which is still the prime responsibility of national governments and national criminal jurisdictions. The cooperation between national governments and national police enforcement authorities, for instance, is absolutely critical in bringing to book some of the rather more unpleasant people who we need to deal with, owing to the international and horrendous nature of their crimes. I remember, as minister, speaking to my Polish opposite number, Mr Miller, – who, coincidentally, is now the Polish Prime Minister – about certain war criminals. Although Poland is not currently a member of the EU, but hopes to be before too long, it was clear that there was much work which still had to be done in an attempt to produce a more cooperative effect between the different law enforcement authorities. One of the possibilities is, as my report suggests, to have contact points which are readily identifiable in the different nation states. Indeed, an amendment which we have tabled to the report makes it clear that we believe that we should not leave this as a vague proposition to be determined at some point in the future, but that it should be clearly the case that the contact points should be based in the police or justice departments of the Member States. That is the first point. It is also important, as was noted in the previous debate, that we look at the latest methods and make sure that there is a coordination of those methods in bringing about the necessary prosecutions and convictions. The issue of data, for instance, is most important. There were concerns shown by some people about the privacy of individuals and the rights of defendants that might be effected by a duplication or by a different approach to data matters. I am trying, in this report, to bring about consistency. I am sure that Commissioner Vitorino would agree that we need to have more consistency in a cooperative effort. I do not agree with everything that happens on a European basis, but here we have a situation where there is a clear need for cooperation at a level at which we are consistent in our approach. We also need to have systems in place which can be easily recognised and easily transmitted between the nation states that are concerned. Cooperation is the key to success. It is the key to success in the areas which Mr Deprez has spoken about. It is the key to success in the areas that I am proposing here. It is a necessary measure. This report underlines this need and, above all else, it shows the determination of all of us in the different states of Europe to get together to deal with the more unpleasant people who sadly still exist on this globe.

Political group: PPE-DE