STREAM – Strengthening Trust in the European Criminal Justice Area through Mutual Recognition and the Streamlined Application of the European Arrest Warrant
The project was implemented by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in partnership with EIPA – European Institute of Public Administration in Luxembourg, FTE – Fair Trials Europe in Belgium, and AGENFOR- Fondazione Agenfor International in Italy.
After the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Criminal Justice Area gradually introduced new EU legal standards that apply to different aspects of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). These include thissuing and validatinghe EAW, its recognition and execution, and access to remedies before and after the surrender. The content and implications of these standards are constantly being examined by European courts.
The STREAM project aims to promote a unified understanding of the rules and safeguards that apply to each phase of the surrender process in the post-Lisbon Treaty era. This will ensure that the EAW is used coherently across the EU and will create mutual trust between judicial authorities and legal professionals.
The specific objectives of the STREAM project are:
- Increase mutual trust and understanding of EU judicial cooperation in EAW surrender procedures among judicial authorities and defence lawyers by raising awareness of specific challenges and questions.
- Provide clear and effective examples of fundamental-rights compliant solutions adopted by judicial actors and defence lawyers in the use of EAW, enhancing legal certainty and helping tackle legal and practical challenges affecting judicial cooperation.
- Enhance the capacity of defence lawyers, judges, and prosecutors to coherently apply EU procedural rights during different phases of EAW cases, building on guidance provided by the CJEU, the European Commission, judicial networks, and EU agencies such as Eurojust.
- Deliver evidence-based training targeting the specific needs of judicial actors and national authorities across the EU to foster informed decision-making on selecting the most appropriate legal instrument, assessing proportionality, using judicial dialogues, and conducting fundamental rights assessments in the country of execution.
10 E-Training Modules on the European Arrest Warrant
As part of the STREAM project, EIPA developed 10 E-Training Modules that tackle specific cross-cutting needs and common challenges faced by end-users of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The target group for the e-training is judicial authorities, including prosecutors and judges across the EU.
The 10 modules are organised thematically and address specific questions related to key aspects of EAW proceedings: issuing, validation, recognition, execution, access to ex-post and ex-ante remedies, etc.
The e-training modules are organised into the following 10 topics:
- The European Arrest Warrant;
- Ne Bis in Idem;
- Independence of the Issuing Judicial Authority;
- EAW and Detention Conditions;
- Judicial Independence in the Issuing EU MS and Fair Trial;
- In Absentia Trials;
- Assurances;
- The Right to be Heard;
- The Right to be Informed;
- Proportionality Considerations.
The learning methodology and available languages
The e-training modules are based on real-life case studies. They are available in 12 languages: English, Dutch, French, Finnish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.
The e-training modules consist of online exercises, presented as a case study for judicial authorities, and pre-recorded videos that provide explanations of the solution to the case.
Access e-training modulesSTREAM Observatory and Repository
The STREAM Observatory and Repository offer a unique one-stop-shop of the most relevant EAW case law in the selected EU Member States in light of the STREAM project objectives, paying particular attention to the relationship between mutual recognition, fundamental rights and the rule of law.
The Observatory provides a database presenting the most relevant and latest national case law dealing with the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in selected EU Member States and those issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) covering all EU Member States.
Find out more:
To the STREAM Observatory
In light of the STREAM Project Objectives, the national and European Case Law pay particular attention to key issues and interpretative questions in court proceedings related to the relationship between mutual trust, mutual recognition, fundamental rights and the rule of law in the implementation of the EAW.
The Repository is where the STREAM Project stores different resources created for it concerning the Court of Justice of the European Union’s relevant case-law on the European Arrest Warrant.
Find out more:
To the STREAM RepositorySTREAM Jurisprudential Digest
This Jurisprudential Digest is a research-based aid for all users of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) system with a particular focus on national judicial authorities in EU Member States. It distils the essence of key judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union – and therefore extracts the key legal principles and findings rather than offering a detailed presentation of the facts of each case.
You can access the full STREAM Jurisprudential digest below.
Transnational Training Workshop
On 12 October, as part of the STREAM Project, EIPA organised an online Transnational Training Workshop bringing together lawyers, judges and prosecutors from EU-27. During the workshop, key stakeholders presented and exchanged information on promising jurisprudential and administrative practices adopted across the EU and allowing for effective, efficient, and fundamental rights-compliant use of the EAW.
The STREAM Academic Network members presented their research and discussed key findings of their study and analysis on national EAW case law (14 EUMS) with judicial authorities and defence lawyers. Critical CJEU judgments were presented and analysed in detail with the workshop participants. The workshop developed interactive debates as well as break-out sessions where group exercises were performed to promote practical, case-relevant, and context-specific understanding of the ways that the EAW can be used to swiftly surrender persons and cooperate in cross-border proceedings in line with the EU criminal justice acquis.
