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Constitution and development of the European Union's penal jurisdiction: Responsibility, self‐reference and attribution
Author(s) -
Caeiro Pedro
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european law journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1468-0386
pISSN - 1351-5993
DOI - 10.1111/eulj.12443
Subject(s) - jurisdiction , principle of legality , constitution , member state , attribution , law , state responsibility , political science , criminal responsibility , law and economics , european union , action (physics) , member states , state (computer science) , universal jurisdiction , exclusive jurisdiction , international law , criminal law , business , sociology , international trade , psychology , social psychology , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science
This article looks at how and why the EU has been/can be endowed with powers over criminal matters, within the framework of the theory of jurisdiction. It examines the extent to which the specific responsibility of the EU for the protection of certain legal interests justifies the establishment of a (peripheral) jurisdiction. Member States (MS) can confer such powers upon the EU, but this attribution must be consistent with their domestic obligations and limitations on state action. A crucial distinction is established between exclusive and shared responsibility: the former concerns the protection of ‘institutional legal interests’ exclusive to the EU, whereas the latter relates to ‘functional legal interests’, which also fall within the remit of Member States but are moulded or significantly affected by EU policies. It is argued that this differentiation should translate into the type of acts adopted, which may require some adaptations to traditional guarantees such as the legality principle.