The Lisbonisation of the European Criminal Justice Area after the end of the transitional period gradually introduced new EU legal standards – substantial and procedural guarantees – that currently apply to EAW issuing and validation, EAW recognition and execution, and access to effective remedies pre and post surrender. The exact content of these standards and their implications for the operation of the EAW are constantly interrogated before European courts. By promoting an EU-wide understanding of the criminal justice rules and safeguards applying to the different phases of surrender proceedings in a post-Lisbon Treaty context, STREAM will increase coherence in the use of the EAW and create the basis for mutual trust between judicial authorities and legal professionals.
STREAM will create an EAW Jurisprudential Observatory to monitor emerging interpretative questions and application challenges related to the practical use of the EAW. The STREAM Repository of EAW Case-law analysis will provide detailed accounts of solutions adopted by the CJEU and national judicial authorities to conjugate mutual recognition with protection of the fundamental rights of suspects and accused persons, and respect for the core essence of different national constitutional traditions.
STREAM combines analysis of CJEU jurisprudence and national case law to understand how judicial authorities across the EU are dealing with legal, procedural, and practical questions arising in the context of the EAW implementation. Comparative legal research will be performed by leading criminal law experts, who will pinpoint key interpretation divergences and application inconsistencies currently affecting the operation of this mutual recognition instrument in 14 MS (BE, DE, EL, ES, IE, IT, FI, FR, HU, LU, NL, PL, PT, SE), and assess the extent to which national authorities across the EU comply with relevant guidance provided by the CJEU and the European Commission.
State-of-the-art research and comparative analysis are interlinked with interactive consultations and exchanges of knowledge among ‘EAW end users’ (i.e. prosecutors, judges, and lawyers). Legal analysis and data collection will be complemented by participatory methods of discussions. Based on these activities, STREAM will deliver practical guidance and specialised trainings for legal practitioners. It will also gather testimonies to raise awareness regarding existing promising practices and develop recommendations that will help policymakers to foster mutual recognition while protecting fundamental rights of persons concerned by surrender proceedings.