Four EU Countries Allow Foreign Police to Make Arrests in Their Countries

On May 28, 2002 Nicolas Sakozky, the French interior minister, announced after meeting with Otto Schily his German counterpart, that the two countries had concluded an agreement permitting each country police forces the right to make arrests in the other country. France and Belgium also have agreed to allow each country?s police force the right to make arrests in the other country. The agreement to allow arrest by police offices in another EU country reflects the gradual extension of police and judicial powers. Recently, the EU has also agreed to require the detention of a person in one EU country merely on the basis of an arrest warrant throughout the EU as long as it is for a serious crime. Increasingly the EU is experimenting with new types of police and law enforcement cooperation.