The Europeanisation of extradition: How many light years away to mutual confidence?

The objective set for the Union to become an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice has led, amongst other things, to abolishing extradition between Member States and replacing it with a simplified system of ‘surrender between judicial authorities’. Following the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, and having considered the potential impact on the fight against crime and terrorism, the heads of State and Government of the European Union, the President of the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission, and the former High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy jointly called for a new system that would make it easier for justice to be administered across the EU through the enforced transfer of persons from one Member State to another. The draft legislative resolution on the Commission proposal for a Council Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was adopted on 13 June 2002 by the Council, establishing a pan-European warrant for search, arrest, detention and surrender to the judicial authority of the issuing country. As a consequence, in 2004 the EAW gradually replaced extradition between Member States. Undeniably, the Framework Decision on the EAW has added impetus to the EU counter-terrorism response, which since the terrorist bombings in Madrid (March 2004) and London (July 2005) has expanded incrementally through the adoption of a panoply of measures. At the time of writing, not only has the EAW been implemented by all the Member States but it is operational in most cases.