The Lisbon Treaty and the Police and Justice Cooperation: Special Emphasis to the European Public Prosecutor's Office

Criminal law at the European Union level has traditionally been dealt through the concept of intergovernmental cooperation and gains its legal designation in the Maastricht Treaty, as part of the Justice and Home Affairs. The Amsterdam Treaty created the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, but the Tampere Council and the Hague Programme took the notion of European criminal law through the process of mutual recognition. This paper is two-fold. First, the purpose of this paper is to present the changes in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice according the Lisbon Treaty, especially the Police and Justice Cooperation in criminal matters. The three pillar structure is replaced and the competences in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice are increased and provisions transferred in the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union and within the ambit of the Court of Justice’s jurisdiction. It aims to answer what is the meaning of the Lisbon Treaty for the European Criminal Law. On one side, criminal law provisions seriously endanger individual rights, and on the other side, criminal law provisions reflect the basic values of society and therefore reserved for national legislations. However, this traditional understanding of criminal law is not appropriate to the European Union integration level. Having in mind these issues, member-states transferred several competences to the European Union in order to undertake measures in the area of criminal law, criminal procedure and cooperation in criminal matters. Second, the paper presents a comprehensive interpretation of the widely discussed issue regarding the establishment of the European Union Public Prosecutor’s Office. Review and answers on several previous questions are given, opening the possibility for establishing the European Union Public Prosecutor’s Office. Further, the paper makes research of the Lisbon Treaty and articles 85 and 86, as well as some of the issues necessary for consideration, not only from practical point of view, but also to reach an agreement among member-states. Having in mind that according these articles no such function was created, the conclusion contains several recommendations and directions for the perspective of the European Public Prosecutor by creating is as an independent entity with necessary cooperation from Eurojust. In conclusion, remarks and suggestions are pointed regarding the future of the European criminal law. Key words: Police, Justice, cooperation, Lisbon Treaty, European Public Prosecuto