Mosley Meets Italian Minister over EAW Law

Italy's Minister of Justice Roberto Castelli met yesterday with FIA President Max Mosley and his vice president Marco Piccinini and ACI (Italian Touring Club) president Franco Lucchesi to discuss the implications of the European arrest warrant for Formula One.

Mosley, the head of Formula One's governing body, announced earlier this month that he was to move to Monaco, following the introduction of a new European Arrest Warrant. Formula One teams fear the warrants could lead to key personnel being extradited and jailed pending trial in the event of an accident such as the one that killed Brazilian Champion Ayrton Senna at Imola in Italy in 1994.

The meeting yesterday, held at Italy's Ministry of Justice, was set after Castelli criticised the new EAW law and sided with Mosley on the issue.

"Minister Castelli shares our worry concerning the European arrest warrant and similar future legislation initiatives," Mosley said at the end of yesterday's meeting. "He hopes, like us, that criminal proceedings from dangerous sports may be started only in relation to behaviours beyond the sphere of the sport in question. We wish that a regulation in this direction will be introduced at European level."

"During the meeting," the minister himself pointed out, "Mosley illustrated the problems that may arise from an incorrect application of the European arrest warrant in relation to the intrinsic nature of F1, to the risks connected to it, and to the great media exposure of this sport.

"Indeed, effects not fully considered during the drafting of the legislation might arise, exposing the F1 world to excessive judicial risks. I have pledged to examine the problems during the taking in of this legislation."