This book is a collection of updated and thoroughly revised presentations from three
international conferences organised within the Jean Monnet project entitled “Three
Conferences on EU Criminal Justice: Fundamental Rights, Investigation Measures
and the Future European Public Prosecutor’s Office – EUJuCo” by the University of
Catania, between September 2015 and February 2017, at the Department of Law and
the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights.
In line with the project—for the benefit of scholars, students and practitioners of
law—this book presents, first of all, some contributions dedicated to the Directives,
and their domestic implementation, which have progressively reinforced the cornerstone
of procedural rights of suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings in the
EU Member States so as to facilitate judicial cooperation (Part I). So, it is in this
necessary framework that the following contributions must be placed concerning
investigative measures and evidence in transnational criminal proceedings, which
have to be seen as a cross section of the current state of judicial cooperation in the
area of freedom, security and justice, with the related issues of efficiency, coordination,
settlement of conflicts of jurisdiction and guarantees (Part II). Lastly, the
contributions in the final part concern emblematically the prospect of a supranational
justice system, presenting the legislative proposal for the establishment of the
European Public Prosecutor’s Office and its developments. By the time this Jean
Monnet project had already been concluded, the proposal, by means of “enhanced
cooperation”, took the form of EU Regulation 2017/1939, which the contributions
naturally take into account (Part III).
The editors trust that these essays, also thanks to the proven expertise of their
authors, might stimulate critical reflection on a protean and continually evolving
subject.