English to Greek Other Government / Politics

That being said, I am convinced that the principle of mutual recognition – even if it continues to gain force – is insufficient for the creation of a common area of justice in Europe. The time has come to face this reality - for example, by recognising that the lack of minimum common standards in criminal procedures is curbing judicial cooperation - and accordingly, to draw the obvious conclusion that it is necessary to have recourse to certain measures for the harmonisation of legislation. In order to facilitate this objective, it appears that it is becoming more urgent than ever to invoke the ‘bridging clause’ in Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) so as to enable the ***communitarisation*** of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, thereby, overcoming the many obstacles that presently exist in the third pillar (Title VI of the TEU). The European Parliament has been calling for the activation of this clause for many years, and it is now joined by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Franco Frattini, who has called upon the Council to reconsider the possibility of activating this clause. Several Member States have also voiced their support for this position