The European Arrest Warrant as a Form of International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Terms of Amendments to the Romanian Legislation

Abstract

During the post-accession period, in its quality of member of the European Union, Romania continues its process of harmonization of the national legislation with that of the other member countries, including the penal and criminal-procedure matters. Although, in principle, the penal and criminal procedure matters cannot be the object of a legislative unification at a European level, there should be an approximation of the national penal and criminal-procedure dispositions, in order to effectively prevent and combat the criminal phenomenon. The field in which there is an obvious necessity though for a European legislative unification is that of judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Romania has taken important steps towards this, by adopting Law 302/2004, with the modifications and completions brought by Law 224/2006 and by Law 222/2008. Also, by adopting the new Romanian Code of Criminal Procedure (Law 135/2010) the intention was to ensure a regulatory framework regarding the international judicial cooperation that would meet those imperatives.