During the past nine years, co-operation in criminal matters within the European Union has developed in a rather fascinating way. Before the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force in 1993, there was not much co-operation in this area at all.
During the time before Maastricht, the focus was on the creation of the internal market, on the rules on competition etc. and criminal law did not fall within the scope of the Treaties. Thus, although Community law had (and has) some implications for national criminal law and despite the fact that some conventions were agreed upon within the European Political Co-operation one cannot really say that criminal law questions were formally on the agenda before Maastricht.