BRUSSELS was accused of attempting to create a “Euro-Home Office” after it demanded new powers to harmonise law and order issues across the European Union.

In a move that would open a new chapter in the integration of Europe, the European Commission said that it wanted to speed up the creation of a single “judicial area” by scrapping the national vetoes on law and order issues and transferring decision-making powers to Brussels.

It said that the current system — where any national government can block EU-wide polices and where Brussels institutions have virtually no influence — was too slow and cumbersome. The detailed proposals, supported in principle by the Government, would also cover the training of judges, give police the right to pursue criminals across international borders, and routinely give information about criminals to foreign police forces.

The plans also include giving a court in Luxembourg the right to decide on individual asylum and immigration cases, enabling illegal immigrants to bypass national courts and appeal straight to the EU’s supreme court instead. The commission said that the powers were needed to combat terrorism and organised crime.

José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, cited the London terrorist bombings last summer as a justification for the move. “I hope we will honour the victims, and look frankly at what can be done at the European level to give more coherence to the fight against terrorism and organised crime,” he said.

The Commission has widespread support among member states, which all agreed in principle to the move as part of the European Constitution, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters. Britain has traditionally jealously guarded control over criminal matters, but the Home Office recently made clear that it would not reject scrapping the national veto. The Government believes that it can afford to take a relaxed attitude because Britain, with Ireland and Denmark, have an opt-out which means that they can refuse to take part in any EU policies.

In one document yesterday, the commission said that it wanted to “lay down EU-wide rules on jurisdiction, procedural guarantees, presumption of innocence and on minimum standards for gathering of evidence”, as well as introduce “concrete measures to improve judicial training and the efficiency of justice systems”.

Franco Frattini, the justice commissioner, said that scrapping national vetoes would help to unblock his plan for a pan-European crime for inciting racial hatred, as well as proposals to give arrested suspects standardised rights across Europe.

Timothy Kirkhope, the leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, said that Brussels was trying to create a “Euro-Home Office” that would hinder rather than help the fight against crime. Neil O’Brien, of the think-tank Open Europe, said: “If the Government are serious about cracking down on crime, the last thing we need is to have unelected EU judges getting in the way. Once again the Government are just going with the flow and quietly handing over more powers to the EU.”

Graham Brady, Shadow Europe Minister, said: “At a time when ministers are queueing up to argue over who is to blame for the failings of our criminal justice system, it would be absurd to hand over powers on policing and criminal justice to Brussels.

“This is bringing the EU Constitution in through the back door.”

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