Effectiveness and Functionality of Substantive EU Criminal Law

Abstract

This article analyses the effectiveness and functionality of substantive EU criminal law legislation. With the Lisbon Treaty criminal law has been included as a general branch of EU law. Effective enforcement of EU law is a general principle. As a starting point it is also easy to agree on the fact that EU criminal law should be effective. But what does this really mean? Can criminal law be used just as any other measure, or does criminal law still have a specific nature, where some specific principles apply and restrict the use of criminal law instruments? These are the core questions of this article. Firstly, both effectiveness and functionality in relation to substantive EU criminal law harmonisation are defined. Secondly, the question on how to measure effectiveness in substantive EU criminal law is discussed. Thirdly, the limits for using effectiveness as an argument for new criminal law legislation are analysed. Some concluding remarks are done in the final chapter.