European ministers discuss justice

Justice ministers from the forty-one member Council of Europe have begun a two-day meeting in London to discuss how to make justice more accessible to citizens across the continent.

The ministers will be discussing ways of modernising and speeding up court procedures and the cost of state-funded legal aid among other issues.

A BBC correspondent says that against the reality of significant differences in legal systems across Europe, any attempt to rationalise justice is bound to run into difficulties.

Our correspondent says the participants are likely to disagree over efforts by the European Union to develop a European charter of human rights. The Council of Europe already has a Convention on Human Rights, which was drawn up fifty years ago.

Some fear that strengthening this Charter could be another step towards a "United States of Europe" and a consequent watering down of national identity.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

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