Review article
EU Criminal Law and the Way Forward in the Case of the Functioning of the EPPO
Anže Erbežnik
; European Parliament, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Abstract
EU criminal law is a relatively new construct of the last twenty
years. Despite its added value in the creation of a common legal area of
freedom, security and justice, it has also shown some deficits. The deficits highlighted in this article refer to: 1) open questions about the EU
"federal" structure; 2) the limits of the concept of mutual recognition
in view of the limited harmonisation of procedural rights; 3) the issue of
democratic accountability when adopting EU criminal law; and 4) and
the issue of effective legal remedies in EU criminal law instruments.
The EPPO represents a new era in EU criminal law. It creates a fully
functioning "federal" prosecutorial service that is not based on the
cooperation logic of Eurojust. It is an independent judicial authority
with prosecutorial and punitive powers as a strong sign of "federal"
sovereignty. As such, it is a significant step forward in forming a true
European state. However, it is not immune to the issues raised before,
and any success of the EPPO will depend on solving the same questions
as those that affect EU criminal law in general. This article will try to
provide some warnings and some answers for a positive solution.
Keywords
EPPO; mutual recognition; EU criminal law; harmonisation; rights of suspects
Hrčak ID:
244905
URI
Publication date:
15.10.2020.
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