Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-22-Speech-3-273"
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"en.20031022.11.3-273"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this Commission proposal for a directive fulfils one of the two mandates conferred by the Tampere European Council, and has two main aims, as the rapporteur has just pointed out. These aims are:
to create a minimum standard for compensation to all citizens and legal residents of the European Union who are victims of crime, and to improve access to compensation in cross-border situations. There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that these two aims are all the more valuable since 2 of the 15 current Member States, and most of the states which are about to accede to the European Union, still have no compensation system in place. They are all the more valuable because there is currently no system of cross-border cooperation to assist victims in claiming compensation. The proposal’s first aim is to ensure that the opportunity of obtaining state compensation exists in every Member State. The aim, however, is not to harmonise the relevant legislation in the Member States. It is simply to establish a minimum standard which each Member State can exceed if it so desires, thereby respecting the principle of subsidiarity.
Victims of terrorism, in particular, fall within the scope of this directive. Close relatives and dependents of victims also have a right to compensation if the victim dies as a result of injuries sustained and caused by a crime falling within the scope of the directive.
All pecuniary and non-pecuniary losses incurred as a direct result of injuries sustained will be compensated. Compensation for non-pecuniary losses does not currently exist in many Member States, and is particularly important for the Commission, especially in serious crimes such as armed robbery, rape, sexual offences or terrorist attacks.
The proposal’s second aim is to facilitate access to compensation for crime victims in cross-border situations. When an individual is a victim of crime in a country other than that in which they reside, it is unlikely that the victim will have much time to set in motion the appropriate criminal and civil procedures, beyond reporting the criminal act. We feel, therefore, that the system should allow the victim to set these procedures in motion easily, from his or her country of residence. The directive, therefore, proposes a system of cooperation between the authorities of the Member States. The Commission is proposing that a manual be established and made available to the authorities. It shall contain the basic criteria applying to compensation in each Member State, the territorial jurisdiction of the authorities in each Member State, if applicable, and the application forms used in each Member State for this purpose. The manual thus established shall be available in all of the official languages of the European Union."@en1
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