The European Commission on Thursday said it had opened an infringement procedure against Belgium, Bulgaria and Croatia for failing to correctly adopt EU directives for fair trial rights in criminal proceedings. The infringement concerns a failure to correctly transpose the directive on the strengthening of the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings, the commission said.
The European Commission in early March adopted a proposal for an EU-wide directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, the Estonian-language translation of which was published last Thursday. Estonia's Ministry of Justice on Friday contacted various institutions and interest groups in the country seeking input on the proposed directive.