The evolution of European Union criminal law (1957-2012)

of Action relating to the reinforcement of police cooperation and of endeavours to
combat terrorism and other forms of organised crime. 242
Conclusion
This chapter has suggested that the origins of European Union criminal law date back to
the early period of European integration. It showed that although until 1993 the EC
lacked a mandate to act in criminal matters, such issues were being pushed forward
mostly by Interior Ministers and civil servants in police cooperation domains, or by EC
bureaucrats, experts in the single market. The field was thus starting to be driven mostly
by political concerns rather than penological ones. Regardless, during those years,
through indirect, ad hoc and at times secretive means, the EC built the founding
structure of the future field of justice and home affairs.
It did so, on the one hand, by infusing national criminal law with its hidden demands for
the enforcement of its own norms. At stake here were no longer concerns over terrorism
and organised crime but rather the completion of the single market and the proper
enforcement of EC policies. On the other hand, the chapter also argued that a criminal
law related sphere was being further built through a number of intergovernmental
arrangements such as Trevi and its structures, seeking cooperation at first in terrorism
matters and later on in a panoply of topics – primarily those around transnational
criminality - which was easily integrated under the umbrella of organised crime. Such
cooperation was narrow and mostly focused on operational matters. Yet, the
displacement of criminal matters issues from the realm of the state into other fora raised
concerns over the lack of transparency and lack of accountability of these new structures
and arrangements.
The chapter suggests that the foundation for the future architecture of ECL, to be set in
motion by the TEU(M), was laid very early on in the history of EU integration. As the
thesis is developed, it will be shown how some of these indirect and rather secretive
patterns of intervention, the areas of criminality explored, and concerns voiced before
1993, remained central to criminal matters in the EC and EU. The next chapter will
analyse the so-called Maastricht era and show how the EU set its first official and formal
claim as an actor in criminal matters in the European Union.
242 Trevi Ministers, ‘Programme of Action relating to the reinforcement of police cooperation’,
supra note 204.
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