CEP President Marc Cerón travelled to Brussels over discussions in the field of probation with the European Commission

25-7-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — The European Commission is keen to hear what is happening in the field of probation from CEP, for this reason President Marc Cerón travelled to Brussels to meet with Mr. Telmo Baltazar. He is Member of the Cabinet of EU Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding. The conversation evolved around topics such as the Directors General (DG) of probation meeting and other developments in the sector. CEP is currently invited to speak with the Cabinet on a yearly basis.

Final Declaration Oslo
In the month before the meeting in Brussels, the DGs of probation convened in Oslo, Sweden and Marc Cerón presented the general principles they had agreed on. In the ‘Final Declaration’ the DGs stated that they see positive developments, despite the current climate of austerity. Themes such as desistance, European cooperation, innovation and rehabilitation, are becoming accepted in the Member States.

Framework Decisions
Where the Commission mentioned victim support as an issue that required more attention, it is now worried about the poor application of Framework Decisions (FD) in the field of corrections. In particular, the Commission is disappointed about the evolution of FDs 947, 909 and 829. Few jurisdictions have transposed the requirements of the FDs into national legislation and there is no news of any transfer of probationers or prisoners under such regulations.

For this reason, the EU has the intention to send a reminder to Member States. Mr. Baltazar asked CEP to provide input, pointing out the main obstacles for the implementation process and possible solutions to these obstacles.

Criminal Justice Platform Europe
Since December 2011 the four partners from prison, probation, victim support and restorative justice have been working together in the Criminal Justice Platform Europe (CJPE) [http://cep-probation.org/news/65/589/]. Mr. Baltazar explained that the Commission sees this strategic alliance as extremely useful. He supports the effort of the participating actors to collaborate and thus become more influential on the level of local governments.

The above mentioned topics, as well as explanatory remarks about the EU projects that CEP is participating in, and other issues, were discussed in a friendly and productive atmosphere. The exchange was very useful to the parties that were present in the meeting. The Cabinet and CEP will continue to meet regularly to strengthen the ties and enhance the communications.

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