Extradition Act 2003 (Amendment to Designations) (No. 2) Order 2005

I thank the Minister for outlining so carefully the purposes of the statutory instrument. He referred at the beginning to the fact that there had been proper and thorough scrutiny of the Extradition Act, particularly as it went through this House. I agree that this is not the occasion on which to revisit those arguments. He also referred to the principles. I am sure that the Minister would agree that the principle that was agreed between us all at the time was that we needed properly and swiftly to be able to bring back offenders to this country when it was right to do so, and equally that we should be able to return them to our European partners where it was right to do so. The sticking point on the European arrest warrant was on the matter of the surrendering of the Home Secretary’s back-stop powers; we had some concerns about that. Here, today, the Government are asking that Italy be added to the list of territories that are designated as Part 1. Subject to the indication that the Deputy Chairman has already given us about the powers of the Committee, we shall not oppose the making of the order, subject to its being presented to the House for approval at the appropriate time. I have one or two questions. First, why has it has taken so long for Italy to implement the framework decision and become a Part 1 country? That is not a criticism of Italy; I am a lifelong fan of almost everything Italian—including some of their football clubs, but not all. The Minister said that now all member states were designated Part 1 states, subject to the statutory instrument going through. Does that mean that all the accession states are also now designated as Part 1 territories? The Explanatory Notes that were put out with the draft statutory instrument state that Article 1.2 of the order is a transitional provision that ensures that the change in designation does not apply where extradition proceedings have begun. The Minister gave us some helpful indications about the success of the European arrest warrant so far. Are any such proceedings in progress with Italy at the moment that could be subject to those transitional provisions?