Balancing judicial independence and mutual recognition: the CJEU’s case–law on the European arrest warrant and fundamental rights protection

Abstract

Faced with attacks in certain EU states against the rule of law and which affect judicial independence, the Court of Justice of the European Union has been swamped by a series of preliminary questions where Member States receiving EAWs from those countries where such attacks are taking place are faced with the dilemma of whether should they execute the warrants, fearing that, if executed, they will be sending the individuals concerned to courts where their fundamental right to effective judicial protection will not be upheld. Against this background, the CJEU applied a mechanism consisting of a "double" test to determine whether the EAW should be executed, given the circumstances of each case. However, after being used on numerous occasions, this system has presented several problems. The aim of this Master Thesis is to highlight these problems and propose certain reformulations that allow for a better approach to this type of scenario.