Η προστασία των ατομικών δικαιωμάτων στο πλαίσιο της δικαστικής συνεργασίας σε ποινικές υποθέσεις εντός της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης: οι όροι διαμόρφωσης και ανάπτυξης του συστήματος υπό το πρίσμα της ΣυνθΕΕ και της ΕΣΔΑ

Abstract

As stated in article 29 of the EU Treaty (Title VI, Third Pillar), theobjective of the Union is to “provide citizens with a high level of safety withinan area of freedom, security and justice”, by growing a joint action among themember states in the sector of police and judicial cooperation in criminalmatters. It seems that, the initial economic character of the Union has evolvedinto a more political and social character.Moreover, as stated in article 6 of the EU Treaty, the Union is founded,among others, on the principle of respect for human rights. Therefore, everyspecific action in the context of the EU action, must be compatible with theprotection of human rights.Protecting fundamental rights and creating a European area offreedom, security and justice, seem to be two closely linked tasks.The criminal law provisions aimed at encouraging judicial cooperation,include measures on the harmonization of criminal law, measures on themutual recognition of judicial decisions and measures based on the principleof availability of information. Those aspects of criminal law and criminalprocedure which require a horizontal approach fall within the scope of Unionlaw. Contrary to Community law, the Union law is based on intergovernmentalcooperation, which places boundaries on the law making process in the thirdPillar.In the context of the third pillar (where judicial cooperation lies within),there is a wide area of EU cooperation, within which human rights guaranteesare neither strong nor visible. For example, there seem to be no judicialprotection of the person who is subject or offended by the operation of the EUorganizations.The present study examines the hazards that might exist for the humanrights in each one of these provisions of judicial cooperation. Secondly, itattempts to present the protection that is provided in three different levels:from the European Union and the European Court, from the member statesand national courts and from the Council of Europe. These three levels ofprotection however, are not exactly parallel as said, but they aresupplementary to each other and sometimes they collide.Then the study will present the deficits of protection that are providedfor the subject of judicial cooperation.Finally, proposed solutions are cited. Among others, the access of theUnion to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights of the Council ofEurope and the binding character of the EU Charter of Human Rights.