MARCH 25, 2004

Mosley meets Italian Justice Minister

Max Mosley, the head of the FIA, yesterday met with Roberto Castelli, the Italian Justice Minister, to discuss the problems of the European Union arrest warrant law.

"It's a very dangerous sport and we don't want people exposed to prosecution if we are unlucky enough to have such an accident in the EU," Mosley told pressmen.

Mosley argued that the law, which was pushed through as an anti-terrorism measure, could result in immediate arrests of team members in the case of a fatal crash during a race.

"Our strategy is to lobby strongly against this dangerous principle and try to lobby for a European law that makes it clear that dangerous sports will not be subject to prosecution unless an act is committed outside the normal realm of the sport," he said.

At the moment Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands have not enacted laws related to the EU Arrest Warrant but Mosley says that the EU policy is pushing Formula 1 to reduce its involvement in the European Union.

Castelli told the media that the law was designed "for terrorists not Formula 1 teams".

Mosley and FIA F1 Race Director Charlie Whiting have already moved to Monaco to avoid problems related to an accident in any form of motor racing.