How to Maintain and Improve Mutual Trust amongst EU Member States in Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters? Lessons from the Functioning of Monitoring Mechanisms in the Council of Europe

Abstract

The present report was commissioned by WODC, the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands. It was written in the context of a larger research project that seeks to identify ways to maintain and improve mutual trust amongst EU Member States, with a special emphasis on the area of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. In this framework two reports were written. One report – written by Prof. André Klip, Dr Esther Versluis and Ms Josine Polak (Maastricht University) – focuses on monitoring mechanisms in the first and third pillars of the EU. The present report seeks draw lessons from the experience that the Council of Europe has accumulated in the area of monitoring.