Read more
Approximation of substantive criminal law in the EU
The way forward
The European Union's efforts to
approximate substantive criminal law
began under the third pillar of the
Maastricht Treaty, then amended by the
Amsterdam and Nice Treaties. As with
other areas of cooperation in criminal
matters, this domain has been
« communitarised » by the Lisbon Treaty.
Since then, it is the area where the most
initiatives hâve been introduced.
In this context, the purpose of the book is
twofold. The first aim is to evaluate the
changes introduced by the new Treaty
and, three years after its entry into force,
to provide an overview of the concrete
implementation and practical impact of
thèse changes. The second is to reflect on
future prospects.
Following an introduction, which
identifies the institutional and décision-
making changes resulting from the Lisbon
Treaty and examines the novel
interactions among European actors, the
book is divided into two main sections.
The first one develops a crosscutting
approach, which can be applied to the
approximation of substantive criminal law
irrespective of any specific domain of
analysis. It draws together reflections on
the importance of fundamental principles
of criminal law ; on the so-called annex-
competence provided for by Article 83(2)
TFEU ; on the role of the approximation of
substantive criminal law with a view to the
establishment of a European Public
Prosecutor's Office ; and on the
development of a general substantive
criminal law for the EU.
The focus of the second part of the book is
on evaluating the impact of EU
approximation instruments in three
selected areas (drug trafficking, terrorist
offences and trafficking in human beings).
In cases where successive EU instruments
have been adopted over time, this second
part will assess whether and to what
extent evaluation processes had an
impact on the drafting of subsequent
provisions.
The edited volume ends with concluding
remarks on the way forward.
This book has been co-written by an
international team mainly composed of
academics and researchers who are
members of ECLAN (the European Criminal
Law Academic Network).
