By 2014 the UK must decide how far to be involved in EU crime co-operation measures, most notably the European arrest warrant (see ‘Nationwide alarm at EAW opt-out plan’). Whether the UK should continue to operate the arrest warrant system is not an easy decision and not one to be rushed.

There are arguments on both sides. Effective extradition is crucial to fight crime and, as the Megan Stammers case illustrated, this is particularly true in a Europe of increasingly open borders. On the other hand, the arrest warrant is causing serious cases of injustice, as Fair Trials’ own cases have repeatedly shown, and the British police have complained of being swamped with extradition requests from Eastern Europe for minor crimes.

The need for European extradition reform is beyond question: in the UK it has been recommended by a series of inquiries. But we do not necessarily have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a third option: the government could demand urgent reforms to the arrest warrant as a condition of signing up beyond 2014.

We are likely to find allies for this approach in the rest of Europe, which will continue to operate under the arrest warrant whatever the UK decides. The commission now freely admits that there are faults with the arrest warrant and there is widespread support for reform among MEPs. The warrant has also faced criticism in a number of other countries such as Poland, Cyprus, France and the Netherlands.

Jago Russell, chief executive, Fair Trials International