Creating an Area of Criminal Justice in the EU: Putting Principles into Practice

Abstract

For the year 2006, ERA again successfully applied for funding under the European Commission’s AGiS programme to carry out training activities for legal practitioners in the field of criminal justice cooperation. in this issue of ERA-Forum, we report both on the seminar of 17–19 May 2006 concerning Joint Investigation Teams: the Fight Against Serious Cross-Border Organised Crime and Terrorism (JLS /2005 /AGIS /167) and on the seminar of 23–25 october 2006 Mutual Recognition of Judicial Decisions in Criminal Matters: The Role of the National Judge (JLS /2005 /AGIS /164). the former seminar offered police officers, prosecutors and judges the opportunity to examine the law and practice in the EU relating to the Joint investigation team (‘Jit’). the Jit was devised as an instrument for pooling investigative resources of law enforcement authorities of the Member States in cross-border cases, where appropriate in cooperation with Europol and Eurojust. the october 2006 seminar was framed as ERA’s ‘First Judicial Forum on Mutual Recognition’: it was intended as the first in a series of annual events designed to enable judges and prosecutors to meet and discuss, on a European level, the practical application of mutual recognition instruments, in particular the European Arrest Warrant.