Under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) system, Member States of the European Union are under the obligation to arrest and surrender individuals upon the request of judicial authorities of other Member States. In doing this, it is important that human rights are respected and that there is room for national peculiarities. Awareness of what unites the Member States as well as respect for what makes them different, are prerequisites for a fruitful cooperation. This book will be a useful tool for those involved as practitioners in cooperating under the EAW scheme, e.g. judicial authorities, judges, and counsel representing and advising those who are subject to surrender. Moreover, it will evoke academic interest for its information on EAW practice. The reader will find comments on the various stages of the surrender procedure in a chronological order, starting with the content of the European Arrest Warrant, continuing with the refusal grounds, and ending with the consequences of surrender. The scope of the book goes beyond the frontiers of the European Union. Two chapters deal with other (regional) extradition systems: the one of the Nordic countries and the one of the United States. Nico Keijzer is a former justice in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, and emiritus Professor of international criminal law at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Elies van Sliedregt is Professor of criminal law at the VU University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

the EU Member States are equally authoritative, which leads to serious compli- tions. After all, translations are always inferior to the original texts. The conclusion by Advocate-General Kokott in the Pupino case may lead to a practical solution: just use the language/text that reflects the intention of the drafters of the Fra- work Decision most clearly, regardless of the ‘nationality’ of the case. In the case of the EAW Framework Decision the French text is more authentic than any other text: reliable information from Brussels has taught me that all language versions have been translated from the French. Moreover, the negotiations on this Fra- work Decision were mostly in French. And so I can now return, with a clear conscience, to my natural state: easygoing if not actually lazy. Judge Rob Blekxtoon VII Chapter 0 INTRODUCTION We, Europeans, are participants in the shaping of Europe as a political, cultural and constitutional community, a common home in a messy world. We, lawyers, are responsible for channelling this process and for guarding balance. The balance we have to guard is between the three identities of every European citizen: his or her European, national and individual identity. For our European identity to bloom, it is necessary that our national and individual identities also bloom.

This book examines the European arrest warrant as a successful and effective instrument for judicial co-operation in criminal matters in the European Union. Providing comprehensive content and combining theoretical and practical aspects, it covers all of the major issues surrounding the European arrest warrant. The book analyses its genesis, main features, surrender procedure, case law, implementation and the latest developments. Instead of focusing solely on a criminal law approach, it also considers the subject from the perspective of European Union law and constitutional law.

What practical problems are at stake in current EAW surrender proceedings? The research project Improving Mutual Recognition of European Arrest Warrants through Common Practical Guidelines of which the three country reports for Greece, the Netherlands and Poland are now published, is a follow-up of an earlier project that led to the publication of The European Arrest Warrant and In Absentia Judgments, Maastricht Law Series No.12 InAbsentiEAW. This project is broader than in absentia alone and looks at various other aspects of the EAW surrender procedure that are problematic in practice. It also goes more into detail as it aims to present an alternative to the outdated Handbook for the European Arrest Warrant. This publication will be followed by a final report containing these Common Practical Guidelines. The current volume contains the country reports for Greece, the Netherlands and Poland as these countries offer a representative and interesting intersection of situations in daily practice when it comes to creating, fighting and solving problems on the EAW ImprovEAW. About the Maastricht Law Series: Created in 2018 by Boom juridisch and Eleven International Publishing in association with the Maastricht University Faculty of Law, the Maastricht Law Series publishes books on comparative, European and International law. The series builds upon the tradition of excellence in research at the Maastricht Faculty of Law, its research centers and the Ius Commune Research School. The Maastricht Law Series is a peer reviewed book series thatallows researchers an excellent opportunity to showcase their work.

This book examines in detail, the practice and procedure surrounding the European arrest warrant and its application in Ireland. Surrender under the European Arrest Warrant Act, 2003 has replaced extradition under Parts II and III of the Extradition Act, 1965 as the principal mode of extradition in Europe. The 2003 Act has been operational since 2004 and there are now in excess of 100 written decisions in relation to its operation. A significant number of decisions have finally made the way to the Supreme Court as a result of which many issues can now be regarded as reasonably well settled law for the first time. In addition, there have been a number of recent decisions from the European Court of Justice in relation to the manner in which the Framework Decision ought to be approached by domestic courts in construing domestic legislation. The number of applications under the 2003 Act has roughly doubled each year and is likely to continue to increase as EU Member States attempt to implement the new procedures in place.

The European arrest warrant (EAW) came into force in 2004. It brought in radical change to the extradition process across the European Union. This has led to vast numbers of speedy hearings and surrenders. The EAW was originally promoted as a weapon in the fight against serious cross border crime, but warrants are requested for a wide range of offences and sentence lengths. They may also relate to alleged crimes that occurred many years ago. There has been much discussion about the merits of the EAW. To date, the majority of reviews have focussed on the legislation and implementing laws. But, in spite of the mechanism afforded for doing so in the enacting legislation, little attention has been given to how a requested person may go about defending an EAW. This report is the culmination of a two year study reviewing the opportunities to defend a warrant in practice. The study has looked in detail at the operation of the EAW in ten EU member states - Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the UK. It has reviewed cases from the perspective of the defence and made assessments of whether it is possible to put forward an effective defence to an EAW request.-Back cover.

This book provides a critical analysis of the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions in criminal matters in the European Union through a detailed assessment of its most prominent instrument, the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). It conceptualizes and contextualizes the lack of clear vision in the building up of the area of freedom, security, and justice from an EU constitutional law, as well as a comparative and international criminal law standpoint. The EAW is considered both as a test for all the other measures which have been adopted or will be adopted as part of the mutual recognition agenda, and as an evolution of classic extradition. On the one hand, its significance is viewed from the perspective of both EU law and international law, by highlighting the structural deficiencies of the former Third Pillar and the need to remedy them. On the other hand, its impact is verified not only in the context of European cooperation in criminal matters, but also in light of the more general question of the identity of the EU as a polity, as well as the nature and implications of EU integration after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. In particular, the book revolves around four main issues: 1) the need to substantially re-define the concept of mutual recognition; 2) the extent to which the new mechanism of the EAW effectively operates within a non-harmonized landscape; 3) the exact nature and scope of mutual trust, as a notion that underpins the principle of mutual recognition in European criminal law; and 4) the tension between the need to enhance the law enforcement aspects of EU cooperation and the urge to build up a common framework of procedural rights. An overview of the implementation of the EAW in the UK and Italy, as examples of a common law and a civil law jurisdiction, is also offered.