Fundamental Rights in the European Arrest Warrant – Is There Effective Protection?

The Lisbon Treaty proclaims that the EU will accede to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and despite the good will of the Treaty, the negotiation process appears to be a rocky path. The Opinion 2/13, issued by the Court in December 2014, highlighted that the Draft Agreement on the accession was not compliant with EU law for a plethora of reasons. In particular, the principle of mutual recognition constitutes a bone of contention as the Court is reluctant to abandon its sovereignty over the relationship of mutual trust among Member States on matters related to the area of freedom, security and justice. This is especially intriguing in the context of the European Arrest Warrant in light of violations of fundamental rights which challenge the premise of mutual trust. The paper identifies and evaluates the standard of protection of the right to be informed and of defence rights as established by the case law of the CJEU and as compared to the ECtHR case law. Unravelling the discrepancies between the two regimes, the paper argues in favour of enhanced standards of protection in EU law, compliant with the ECHR.