Abstract: The Insight focuses on case C-348/21 HYA and Others, in which the Court of Justice deals with the admissibility at the trial of the statements of an absent witness questioned at the investigative stage. On the basis of art. 8 Directive 2016/343, the EU judges first derived the right to examine witnesses from the right to...
Abstract: The Court of Justice provided a comprehensive interpretation of the dual criminality requirement under Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA when it handed down its judgment in the KL judgment (case C-168/21 Procureur général près la cour d’appel d’Angers ECLI:EU:C:2022:558). The case at hand raised three intertwined legal...
Abstract: The global reform of the EU migration policy envisaged in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum is stalling. The increased number of arrivals from Belarus gave the European Commission the opportunity to change its approach in attempting to reform the European migration management. The Belarus crisis, influenced by the active involvement of...
Abstract: In recent years the EU and its Member States have claimed to be increasingly targeted by “weaponised” migration. Due to the contemporary sensitivity of migration-related issues in the EU, neighbouring states are supposedly using the threat of increased migration to force the Union’s hand in other policy areas. Below, several recent...
Abstract: A series of challenges and crises have highlighted the deficits of the ‘Schengen Αrea’ both regarding its external and internal borders. This resulted in the undermining of trust between the Member States which is essential to sustain an area free from internal borders. Thus, the EU Commission presented in December 2021 new rules to...
Abstract: In 1996, the Court of Justice ruled out that prosecutors could refer questions for a preliminary ruling on the grounds that their task is not to settle a dispute in complete independence but to submit it to a court by means of criminal prosecution. In case C-66/20 XK ECLI:EU:C:2021:200, the Court was asked to deal with the same...
Abstract: Case C-398/19 Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Berlin (Extradition vers l'Ukraine) introduces relevant developments to the case-law on extradition of Union citizens to third countries. The Court of Justice establishes that the rules defined in its previous case-law apply to a Union citizen who has acquired the nationality of a Member...
Abstract: Records of electronic communication metadata allow detailed conclusions about habits of daily life, such as places of residence, activities carried out, or social relations. This data can therefore be useful in criminal investigations. The CJEU elaborated in case Prokuratuur (case C-746/18 ECLI:EU:C:2021:152) on the conditions of...
Abstract: As EU criminal law has expanded over the years, so have the opportunities for the application of relevant provisions of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The present Insight analyses the situations where the right to liberty has become relevant to pre-trial detention in areas covered by EU rules. It critically discusses the gaps of protection...
Abstract: Pre-trial detention has yet to be harmonised under EU law, although evidence points to an overuse that may affect mutual trust. Other instruments however exist that might impact on the way national authorities use pre-trial detention. In this Insight, we seek to detect fragments of harmonisation within the existing legal framework...
