Italy agrees to pan-European arrest warrant

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO
Associated Press Writer

ROME – Under intense European pressure, Italy caved in Tuesday and endorsed a pan-European arrest warrant, ending an embarrassing stalemate with its EU partners in the battle against terrorism.

The agreement was announced at a news conference by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

"I'm very pleased we've found a solution on this very important point," Verhofstadt said.

Belgium holds the rotating European Union presidency and Verhofstadt was eager to end the dispute with Italy ahead of an EU summit starting Friday.

Italy's reluctance to endorse the sweeping warrant, seen as an important weapon against terrorism, had left it isolated from its partners in the EU. The flap was also a personal embarrassment for Berlusconi.

The 14 other EU nations had already agreed to a joint warrant for 32 crimes ranging from terrorism to money laundering to child pornography. Italy wanted to exclude fraud and corruption, charges Berlusconi himself has faced.

Berlusconi said Italy would have to amend some of its laws to make them compatible with the European warrant and promised to send measures to parliament right away. He also said Italy's disagreement with its European partners had been a "misunderstanding."

Some of the media baron's critics had claimed Italy was balking at the warrant because of Berlusconi's legal problems, which include a tax evasion investigation in Spain involving his holding company, Fininvest. Berlusconi denied it.

Verhofstadt praised Italy for coming around, saying the pan-European warrant was as important to the EU as the euro, the common currency seen as a potent symbol of economic union.

Italy had argued that including crimes such as corruption and fraud under the warrant was too unwieldy for the EU's various legal systems. It wanted the warrant limited to terrorism, trafficking and organized crime and opposed making it retroactive.

When it failed to persuade its EU partners to limit the list of crimes, Italy countered by proposing putting off implementation on some charges, including fraud and corruption, to 2008.

The rest of the EU rejected the proposal.

AP-WS-12-11-01 1032EST