Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Russell-Johnston (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 13 July 2006.

European Court of Human Rights

Question: My Lords, the Minister will, I am sure, know that, as of this morning, there were 85,000 outstanding cases with the European Court. That represents a crisis. I urge the Minister not to follow the course of action that he has outlined of raiding the already inadequate Council of Europe budget to provide the necessary resources for the court to do its work. Does the Minister agree that both bodies do an enormously valuable job and that one should not suffer for the other?

Answer: My Lords, in working through all the issues of European budgets in the last set of negotiations in the settlement, we were clear that there ought to be a realistic constraint on the spending of European institutions. We were at the forefront of the efforts to do that, and we are committed to zero real spending on the Council of the Europe. None the less, in 2006 it amounted to a shade under £20 million. We think that there are grounds for believing that there are credible savings in that budget.

Secondary information