Monaco (AFP)
Monaco announced on Wednesday that it wants to identify and interview alleged drivers who have committed dangerous offenses on the French roads, with Monegasques enjoying for several years a degree of impunity for lack of effective cooperation between the two countries.
In 2018, 100,000 road traffic offenses were committed in France by Monegasque vehicles, although the Principality has only 30,000 registered vehicles, Interior Minister Patrice Cellario said at a press conference. An "encouraging" figure, however, according to him: 140,000 offenses had been committed two years ago.
"We must not have a feeling of impunity because we are not on Monegasque territory, and we must also be attentive to the image we carry", said the minister. In fact, Monegasques do not have much to fear tricolor radars: it is "not possible" for legal issues to trade gray cards between Monaco and France, he said .
Such agreements exist between France and 20 European countries, including Switzerland, but for Monaco, judges must go through a request for mutual legal assistance to know the identity of the offenders they wish to pursue. This possibility has been open since 2005, and since 2016, the Rennes public prosecutor's office, which centralises prosecutions for traffic offenses, regularly sends such requests to the Monegasque judges.
The Monegasque authorities have thus reported a request sent Monday by France to 137 vehicles registered in Monaco who committed numerous offenses last year, at least 50 for some of them.
"I asked (the same day) the identification and the hearing of the people whom I consider that they can be the most dangerous," said Sylvie Petit-Leclair, Attorney General of the Principality of Monaco.
These people can not be prosecuted in Monaco. It is France, if Monaco agrees to transmit the identity of the drivers, to sue them in court. Monaco has so far only auditioned and reminded the law of these recidivists.
© 2019 AFP