The Past, Present and the Future of Eurojust
| Author | Annika Suominen |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X0801500204 |
| Published date | 01 June 2008 |
| Date | 01 June 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
15 MJ 2 (2008) 217
THE PAST, PRESENT AND
THE FUTURE OF EUROJUST
A S*
ABSTRAC T
e objective of this articl e is to she d some light on the current situ ation of co-operation
in criminal mat ters in the EU, especially with regard to Eurojust. With the Lisbon Treaty,
the area of free dom, security and jus tice is about to change. e co-operation in criminal
matters will con sequently also be subject to modications. Due to the tension bet ween
eective crime control and preserving state sovereig nty in co-operation in criminal matters,
the establishment of a European prosec utor’s oce ha s in the past encountered objections.
e pa st of the establishment of Eurojust is analysed and the present functioning of the
unit is examined. e possible est ablishment of a European public prosecutor’s oce on
the back of Euroju st is analysed in the light of the past developments and its future in co-
operation in criminal matter s is evaluated.
Keywords: Eurojust; C o-operation in crim inal matters; Area of Freedom; Security and
Justice; the Lisbon Treaty; Europea n Public Prosecutor’s Oce
§1. INTRODUCTION
Eurojust was established in 20 02 to strengthen t he ght against serious , cross-border
crime.1 Its object ive is to improve and facilitate co-ordination in crimina l matters between
competent authorities of the Member States. However, the eld of cri minal co-operation
* Ph.D. researcher in European criminal law at the Universit y of Bergen, Nor way. My profound than ks
to prof. D. Frände and prof. E. J. Husabø for comm ents on the text as wel l as to M. Loimukos ki for the
insightfu l practitioner’s view. e usu al disclaimer applies. is paper was completed in October 20 07
and updated in Ma rch 2008.
1 Council deci sion of 28 Febru ary 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing th e ght again st
serious crime, OJL 63/1 (6 March 20 02). at decision has been ame nded by the Council decision
2003/659/JHA of 18 June 2003 amendi ng Decision 2002/187/JHA set ting up Eurojust wit h a vi ew to
reinforcing t he ght against seriou s crime, OJL 245/44 (29 September 2 003).
Annika Suom inen
218 15 MJ 2 (2008)
in the EU is a sensitive one, and the debate over the precise st atus of Eurojust (and t he
third pil lar at large) has therefore been on-going for many years.2 As t he Lisbon treaty3
will amend t itle IV of TEU more or less as agreed in t he proposal for the Constitutional
Treaty,4 the debate around Eurojust has reached a new level of intensity.5
is art icle will focus on the history of, as well as the reasons for, t he establishment
of Eurojust, the present functioning of the institution and its futu re. e rst part of this
paper (2) considers the background to the establ ishment of Eurojust as a co-oper ation
unit for criminal matt ers. e second pa rt (3) examines t he structure and functioning
of t he unit. e t hird par t (4) ana lyses the future of Eurojust, including the releva nt
provisions of the L isbon Treaty; some nal rema rks will be presented in the conclusion
(5).
§2. THE PAST: ESTABLISHING EUROJUST
e idea of a European prosecutor w as rst launched w ith the Corpus Juris project6 in
19 97. 7 e Corpus Juris consisted of provisions on European ‘ federal crimes’, on general
crimina l liabi lity and on a European Public Prosecutor that would have competence over
the cr imes listed.8 e idea of establishing a European prose cutorial agency, Eurojust,
2 See, for exa mple, C. van den Wyngaert , ‘Eurojust and the Europea n Public Pros ecutor in t he Corpus
Juris mode l: Water and Fir e’ in N. Wal ker (ed.), Europe’s area of Freedom, Security a nd Justice (OUP,
2004), 201–239 and J. Kre tschmer, ‘Eu ropol, Euroju st, OLA F – was i st das und was dü rfen die? ’, 3
Juristisch e Ausbildung (2007), 169–175.
3 Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treat y establishi ng the Eu ropean
Community, signe d at Lisbon, 13 December 2007, OJC 306/1 (17 December 200 7).
4 e proposal for the Treaty est ablishing a Europea n Constitution, OJC 310/1 (16 December 2004).
5 e Lisbon Treaty w ill introduc e some new arr angements to Just ice and Home A airs (JHA) ma tters
and espe cially cri minal law, such as new emergency brea ks and t he possibilit y to, throu gh enhanced
co-operation, go further with a sma ller group of Memb er States. Hence t he provisions on ju dicial co-
operation in c riminal matters are not entirely the same as were laid down in the constitut ion. See
statewatch analysis ‘E U Reform Treaty analysis 1: JHA pr ovisions’ by S. Peers, ver sion 3, 22 October
2007 and Statewatch an alysis 5 ‘EU Reform Treaty, Ana lysis of the amended text of the dr a Reform
Treaty’ by S. Peers, 12 Octob er 2007 on more ex act inform ation about the dier ences (also between
the dierent versions of the L isbon Treaty). Both docu ments available on w ww.statewatch.org /
euconstituti on.htm (last browsed 18 Februa ry 2008).
6 M. Delmas-Mar ty (ed.), e proposal fo r Corpus Juri s, introducing prov isions for the purpose of
safeguarding the n ancial interest of the Euro pean Union (Economica, 1997).
7 For more in formation on the Corpus Juris and its provisions on a Europea n pros ecutor, s ee e .g.
J. Gonzá les, ‘Towards a European Publ ic Prosecutor’s Oce’, in G. de Ke rchove and A. Weyembergh
(eds.), Ver s un espa ce judiciaire pénal européen (Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 2000), 121–124 and
C. van den Wyngae rt, ‘Corpus Juris , parquet européen et juge nat ional: vers une chambre pré liminaire
européenne?’, in de Kerhove a nd Weyembergh, 131–138.
8 A new version of Corpus Juris was publishe d in 2000, but this paper will not analyze these two proposals
further nor a nalyze their d ierences.
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