The Puigdemont Case: The European Arrest Warrant and Mutual Trust at Risks

Abstract

The recent Carles Puigdemont case confirms that European criminal law, in particular the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) system, is in crisis of confidence.

The paper elaborates case facts, as well as the ruling of the German's Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein that rejected the EAW issued by Spanish authorities for the offence of rebellion due to a lack of double criminality. The paper, also suggests that the crisis has been made by rejecting the possibility to refer the issue to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling procedure in order additionally to determine the EU's law on double criminality criteria. It brought to a reduction in mutual trust among member-states, as the Spanish judiciary was deemed side-lined and the EAW system questioned. The conclusion point the need of strengthening the mutual trust among member-states, as well as greater involvement of the CJEU and eventual handling of the case by the European Court on Human Rights.