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Data retention has been subject of extensive and fierce discussions amongst practitioners, policy makers, civil society and academia in the EU and its Member States for many years – often coined as a clash between liberty and security. Through its jurisprudence, the Court of Justice …

Dear Readers, As we approach the end of 2020, we cannot but acknowledge the importance of dialogue with experts. In the field of EU criminal justice, the Commission has always relied strongly on exchanges with experts. The prominent Corpus Juris project of just such a group of experts led by Prof. Delmas-Marty at the end of the 1990s was devoted to the protection of the financial interests of the European Community and included a proposal for a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). This groundwork bore fruit. – A true European Prosecution Office, which should soon start its activities in Luxembourg,…

EU legislation in the field of financial and organised crime is affected by different issues. The anti-money laundering (and counter-terrorist financing) legislation is dense, but it still lacks effectiveness. Although the approximation between the Member States still presents some concerns, what seems to be desirable …

The notion of the “cost of non-Europe” brings us back to 1988, when a report bearing his name was published by Professor Paolo Cecchini, who had been asked at the time by the Delors Commission to investigate and quantify the untapped potential of the Single Market and to make the economic case for the removal of physical, technical, and fiscal barriers between the, then, twelve Member States of the European Communities.1 Now, in 2016, the Internal Market is perceived by citizens and politicians as a done deal, while the European Union is seen as a complex entity of a somehow…

The last few years have seen the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (“Frontex”) grow ever more central to European efforts to control the external borders. The Agency moved from a merely coordinating and supporting role to a much more operational one. Frontex now engages …

Dear Readers, Several anniversaries were recently celebrated in relation to the EU, in general, and to the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (ASFJ), in particular: 60 years since the signature of the Treaty of Rome, 20 years since the enactment of the principle of mutual recognition, 10 years since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. The dynamic European landscape is giving rise to an increasing number of actors and instruments in judicial cooperation in criminal matters, with undeniable repercussions for the Member States. This can be seen not only from a legal/judicial perspective but also from…

10 years ago, on 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force and brought judicial cooperation in criminal matters from the sphere of intergovernmental cooperation fully into the fold of EU law and policies. Almost all former framework decisions in the field of …

Twenty years having passed since the Conclusions of the European Council in Tampere, which proposed the principle of mutual recognition as the “cornerstone” of judicial cooperation within the Union, the author takes the opportunity to reflect on the main achievements in this sector before and …

Increasing dependency of the society on the information technologies raises concerns over vulnerabilities in cyberspace and the “dark side” of the information networks. The growth of digital operations in legitimate markets is one of the vital factors for the economic development. However, as markets and trading themselves have always attracted criminals seeking benefits from illegal activities, digital networks become a key enabler for the growth of cybercrime, both with regard to committing traditional crimes in the Internet and to developing new types of computer misuse. Cybercrime has been evolving in line with how society uses digital networks, reacting to every…

The European Union has adopted and developed a comprehensive framework to combat offences affecting its financial interests over the years. It established a specific investigative service, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in 1999, which is competent to conduct administrative investigations when there is suspicion of fraud or any illegal activity affecting the budget of the Union.1 OLAF can fully independently conduct internal investigations (i.e., inside any European institution or body funded by the EU budget) and external investigations (i.e., at the national level if the EU’s financial interests are affected); to this end, it cooperates closely with competent national authorities…