Is mutual recognition a viable general path for cooperation?
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2032284419836516 |
| Author | Helmut Satzger |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue: Articles |
Special Issue: Article
Is mutual recognition a viable
general path for cooperation?
Helmut Satzger
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita
¨t, Germany
Abstract
In 1999, mutual recognition was declared to be the cornerstone of judicial cooperation not only,
but also in criminal matters within the European Union (EU). Often this method seems to be
regarded as a result of the close European integration and thus an invention of the EU. This article
tries to show that even in traditional judicial assistance cases a similar trend could be witnessed and
that mutual recognition is also applied – to a more or less intensive degree – in other regions and
also in other areas of the law. In the author’s view, mutual recognition is a dynamic concept; its
potential degree of realization depends on a number of contextual preconditions. As a result of the
comparative view, he maintains that an ‘ordre public-proviso’ is a necessary ‘outlet’ and not at all
outdated, especially in the context of judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU.
Keywords
Mutual recognition, European Union, European Arrest Warrant, judicial assistance, rule of non-
inquiry, Nordic Arrest Warrant, Mercosur Arrest Warrant, ordre-public-proviso, waiver-concept
A lot has already been written and said about mutual recognition in the framework of the European
Union (EU). The aim of this contribution is neither to confine myself to an analysis of some legal
acts of the EU which are based on this concept, nor to write another abstract and fundamentally
critical evaluation of mutual recognition in general. My task shall consist in taking a more distant
and global look at this principle in relation to ‘cooperation’, which – in our context – means, more
than anything else, judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Thus my fundamental questions are:
has the application of mutual recognition really revolutionized the traditional rules on judicial
cooperation in criminal matters? Is the EU’s approach totally different compared to other regions
of the world? Or does it just follow a ‘general trend’ in legal assistance in relation to criminal but
also non-criminal cases? In the end, such a comparative view will help to clarify what mutual
recognition really means and to define the conditions which are necessary to ensure its smooth
application and to minimize any impairments.
Corresponding author:
Helmut Satzger, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita
¨t, Prof.-Huber-Platz 2, Munich 81375, Germany.
E-mail: h.satzger@lmu.de
New Journal of European Criminal Law
2019, Vol. 10(1) 44–56
ªThe Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/2032284419836516
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