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The Carles Puigdemont Case: Europe's Criminal Law in the Crisis of Confidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

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The case of Carles Puigdemont underlines that European criminal law is in a crisis of confidence. The Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein has rejected a Spanish European arrest warrant for the criminal offence of rebellion because it lacks double criminality. It applied German law de lege artis without, however, questioning the European legal framework. The case would have provided an opportunity to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling in order to further specify the European law criteria of double criminality. This would have been the adequate legal response to a politically explosive case. In the end, the Spanish judiciary sees itself disavowed and the system of the European arrest warrant called into question.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 Schleswig-Holsteinisches Oberlandesgericht [HansOLG] [Higher Regional Court] Apr. 5, 2018, 1 Ausl (A) 18/18 (20/18), 2018 (Ger.).Google Scholar

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12 Id. para. 35.Google Scholar

13 Id. para. 36.Google Scholar

14 Id. para. 36.Google Scholar

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