The recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is in line with the position expressed by the Romanian state and creates the conditions for the execution of European arrest warrants, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informs.

In this context, executing member states will no longer be able to take over the enforcement of a sentence imposed in the absence of the consent of the issuing member state of the respective warrant.

The CJEU ruled on Thursday that judicial authorities in the member state refusing to execute a European arrest warrant, in favour of having the sentence served on their own territory, must obtain consent from the courts of the issuing member state for taking over the execution of the sentence pronounced in the latter state.

This consent requires the transmission of the conviction decision by the issuing state to the executing state, accompanied by a certificate. Without this consent, the conditions for a transfer of execution are not met, and the person concerned must be surrendered.

Thus, the objective of increasing social reintegration prospects is not absolute and must be reconciled with the essential rule that ‘member states shall execute any European arrest warrant.’

Taking into account the different functions of punishment in society, the courts of the member state where a person has been sentenced to a custodial penalty may legitimately rely on domestic criminal policy arguments to justify enforcement of the sentence on their own territory. Consequently, they may refuse to transmit the conviction decision and certificate for enforcement in another member state.

If the refusal to execute a European arrest warrant occurred in violation of essential conditions and procedures under EU law, the warrant remains valid, and the issuing state retains the right to enforce the sentence on its own territory, according to the MAE press release.

Romania was represented before the CJEU by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Government Agent for the Court of Justice of the European Union, alongside the EU Litigation Service. The Romanian Ministry of Justice is the relevant government institution in the area covered by this case.

In 2017, a Romanian citizen was convicted by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, with the prison sentence becoming final on 10 November 2020. On 25 November 2020, the court issued a European arrest warrant for the enforcement of that conviction. On 29 December 2020, the person was arrested in Italy. However, the Italian judicial authorities refused to surrender the individual to the Romanian authorities. Instead, they decided to recognise the Romanian conviction and to take over the enforcement of the sentence in Italy, arguing that doing so would increase the chances of social reintegration for the person, who was legally and effectively residing in Italy.

In its ruling, the Court of Justice first recalled that the European arrest warrant is based on the principle of mutual trust, and that refusal to execute it is an exception that must always be interpreted strictly.

AGERPRES