By means of the Maastricht Treaty, criminal law and justice have become the object of European policy. The criminal law combat against drug trafficking, organised crime, corruption and EU fraud stands high on the political agenda. With the Treaty of Amsterdam and the creation of a European legal “space” based on freedom, security and justice, the European police and judicial policy is being further made operational. Also at the behest of the European Parliament and the European Commission an investigation is being carried out into the harmonisation of criminal (procedural) law as regards EU fraud (the Corpus Juris project).
This collection contains the adapted speeches delivered at the international congress entitled “Legal enforcement and EU fraud in the post-Maastricht period”, which was held in Maastricht on 23 – 24 October 1997. Alongside the attention devoted to enforcement aspects in the Treaty of Amsterdam, this collection also contains contributions on the influence of Union law on investigative competences and on transnational co-operation between supervisory bodies, police forces and criminal law authorities. Are Europol, UCLAF and the notion of a European public prosecutor the forerunners of fully-fledged European criminal law enforcement in the 21st century?