“When is a judicial authority not a judicial authority?” That was the question posed at the annual 36 Extradition seminar, held on November 27, 2019, at Gray’s Inn in London. Six months earlier, the Court of Justice of the European Union had ruled that German public prosecutors’ offices, which are subject to instructions from the Minister of Justice, could not issue European arrest warrants (OG and PI judgments of May 27, 2019). Three speakers from Germany, France, and the Netherlands analyzed the implications of this case law in their respective countries.
For France, beyond the issue of the independence of the public prosecutor’s office, Aurélia Grignon’s presentation highlighted two other distinctive features of the French system: the inability to challenge a European arrest warrant before the person is surrendered, and the question of the impartiality of the investigating judge, who issues most national arrest warrants.
A few days later, on December 12, 2019, the Court of Justice ruled specifically on the case involving the French public prosecutor’s office.
