The German Constitutional Court and the European Arrest Warrant: 'Cryptic Signals' from Karlsruhe

In an important 2005 judgment, the German Federal ConstitutionalCourt declared void the German Act that was meant to implementthe European Union Framework Decision on the European ArrestWarrant. However, according to the Constitutional Court, theFramework Decision itself did not necessarily provoke a breachof the German Constitution. If the German legislator had madeadequate use of the tolerance provided by the Framework Decision,he could have avoided any conflict with the Constitution. While,at first sight, the Court's criticism solely seems to referto German national law, a closer look at some statements thatdeal with European law reveals a high potential for future disagreementbetween the German Constitutional Court and European institutions:they do not share the same view as to the development of Europeancooperation in criminal matters.