From Mutual Trust to the Full Effectiveness of EU Law: 10 Years of the European Arrest Warrant

Ten years have elapsed since the European Arrest Warrant (EA W) was adopted. While the early case law concerning the legitimacy of the EAW confirmed the Court of Justice's insistence on sufficient trust in the European area of prosecutions, in order to justify, the operation of this instrument, more recent cases have shown that there are limits to mutual trust also in the context of the EAW. The question that became the crucial testing ground for the credibility of the EAW and its establishment of the principle of mutual trust was the possibility for Member States to choose not to execute a request for an EAW under certain circumstances. This article discusses how the Court's case law appears to have shifted from an overreliance on trust to a mainstreaming of the EAW on the basis of classic EU law by insisting on its compliance with the principle of full effectiveness. In doing so, the article first looks at the recent cases of Da Silva Jorge and Melvin West before discussing them in the wider context of mutual recognition in the area of freedom, security and justice.