§ Lord Pearson of Rannochasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the assurance by the Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 24 March (H.L. Deb., col. 1198) that the corpus juris initiative "has never even been considered by the institution of the European Union", whether they are aware of the European Parliament's Session Document A4–0082/98, dated 3 March 1998, paragraph 9 of which requests the Commission to communicate with the European Parliament about the European Public Prosecutor system proposed in the corpus juris. [HL1520]
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanOn 31 March, one week after the comments made by my noble friend Lord McIntosh of Haringey, the European Parliament did adopt a resolution,
having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs (A4–0082/98).The motion for a resolution was drafted by the Committee on Budgetary Control on 3 March. The resolution calls upon the Commission further to examine aspects of the corpus juris paper, a discussion paper produced by a group of academic experts under the aegis of the European Commission.The ideas contained in corpus juris are not the subject of any formal proposal for legislation. For any of them to have effect they would need to be proposed formally and agreed by unanimity in the Council of Ministers. The Government disagree with many of its recommendations and could not support any such proposals.