That's all right, then

Gijs de Vries, the EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator, last heard complaining bitterly that the member states would not do as he tells them, has found one willing listener.

According to the Waltham Forest Guardian (we take our news where we can find them), he told Leyton’s Labour MP Harry Cohen that what he wanted was

“A single EU analysis centre to examine threats from inside and outside the EU and the European arrest warrant which speeds up extradition were two elements of the approach …. [as well as] … better identity documents with digital information to check suspected terrorists' movements.”

But there was no need to worry (not that Mr Cohen was all that worried if one reads the article right):

“We must make the rule of law work against terrorism.

And we need to have the right balance between measures to protect against terrorism with the right to privacy and the right to due legal process. We should not impinge on the latter more than is necessary.”

Of course, there remains the question of who defines the necessity, bearing in mind the 32 “crimes” listed for the European Arrest Warrant and the forthcoming European Evidence Warrant.