The number of European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) issued in the EU in 2019 totalled 20,226, according to statistics published by the European Commission on Monday 9 August. These figures confirm that the EAW remains an “essential tool for judicial cooperation in criminal matters” since its launch in 2004.
Compared to 2018, the year 2019 saw an increase of 2,755 EAWs. However, the Commission points out that this significant increase can be explained by the fact that Germany had to reissue 2,379 EAWs already issued by German prosecutors, due to a decision of the Court of Justice of the EU.
With regard to the categories of offences generally identified in 2019, theft offences and criminal damage (2,737 EAWS) were the most prevalent, followed by drug-related offences (1,873 EAWS) and fraud and corruption offences (1,846 EAWS).
However, there are still large differences between Member States. For example, Poland alone issued 902 of the 2,737 EAWs related to theft offences and criminal damage.
In contrast to the trends in 2017 and 2018, terrorism-related offences decreased slightly in 2019, with 274 EAWs, of which France issued 119 and Belgium 83.
In total, in 2019, 5,705 EAWs were executed and 7,658 people were arrested under an EAW. The highest number of arrests was recorded in Germany (1,590), Spain (907), the Netherlands (801) and Romania (689).
See the report: https://bit.ly/3BfXVWR (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)