All EU Member States are party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which is the principal treaty setting out the basic standards for suspects' procedural rights in criminal proceedings in the EU. However, divergent practices in different Member States have hitherto hindered mutual trust and confidence between them. In order to counter this obstacle, the European Commission - in its 2003 Green Paper on "Procedural Safeguards for Suspects and Defendants in Criminal Proceedings throughout the EU" - held that the EU is justified in taking action in this field. Member States had also expressed the need and wish for cooperation in the matter on a EU level. However, the ideas in the 2004 Commission "Proposal for a Council Framework Decision on Certain Procedural Rights in Criminal Proceedings throughout the European Union" have not yet sparked any political agreement on the matter. In 2005, the Commission arranged for a study to be carried out on procedural rights in the EU in