Perhaps I could have toned down that headline a bit. But being able to extradite the suspected Islamic State terrorists known as the Beatles to the United States, where they might be executed, is a possible benefit of Britain leaving the European Union.
What this really is, though, is a nice, little example of how this transnational government idea works — let’s hide all the real decision-making as far away from the voters as we can.
The specific story under discussion is that two possible ISIS terrorists have been captured. One of the things they’re suspected of is the beheading of the American journalist James Foley, thus they’re available for trial on various charges in varied places, one of which could be the U.S. for that crime against Foley. The news on Monday is that the British authorities would not insist upon the usual clause in any extradition agreement: that if found guilty, they not be sentenced to death; and if they are, the sentence not be carried out. And it’s that bit which shows the transnational workings.
Over here in Europe we don’t have the death penalty. The decision on that comes from the Council of Europe — no, that’s not the European Union. The CoE is where the basics of human rights legislation stem from, and it’s an organization of some 47 European countries (nearly all of them). If you’re to be in the European Union, then you must be a member of the Council of Europe and, thus, adopt all the human rights malarkey including the absence of the death penalty. In detail, you cannot regularly pass a death penalty for peacetime offenses; and if you do, you still cannot carry it out.
The European Union goes further and insists that you cannot extradite to a place which might impose or carry out a death sentence. It is this which the British authorities have done, which the EU cannot punish them for.
I should note that I’m not in favor of executions in any circumstances whatever, but the manner in which this law is imposed still rankles me. Note how far away it is from any form of democracy. We get to elect the national governments, and there’s a Mickey Mouse Parliament for the EU as well (which cannot initiate legislation upon anything at all, it’s purely a talking shop for whatever the bureaucrats decide to let it mumble about). But these decisions about human rights, including the death penalty, are taken yet another level up, well out of reach of anything the populace might decide upon or desire.
There are no elections to anything at all at the Council of Europe level. It is purely those who deem themselves the great and the good deciding who is to join their august ranks and when.
The disconnect here is marked. You probably couldn’t get a majority of votes for the death penalty for murder in Britain, though you almost certainly could for child killers or those who murder policemen. The point being that none of that matters. It’s not us who gets to decide, it’s them, the decision is imposed upon us. Quite simply, we don’t live in a democracy on this matter, because the people have no say.
Even when Britain leaves the European Union, we’d still, under those Council of Europe rules, not be allowed to execute. But we would, without the almighty row which is just about to start, be able to extradite to places that might.
As I say, I don’t think executions should happen. But I do insist that it’s voters who get to decide — not something that happens in the European transnational governance for decisions on all the important things are kept well away from the opinions or votes of the actual people, by design.
Tim Worstall (@worstall) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a senior fellow at the Adam Smith Institute. You can read all his pieces at the Continental Telegraph.
