A judge in a Member State may not refuse to execute a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) solely on the grounds that the wanted person is the mother of young children living with her. Refusal to surrender the person concerned to the issuing State may be justified on an exceptional basis only if there are systemic or widespread failings in that State and if the fundamental rights of the mother and those of her children are at risk of being violated.
This is essentially what the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on Thursday 21 December (case C-261/22), responding to the Italian Court of Cassation’s refusal to extradite to Belgium a pregnant woman accompanied by her infant child, sentenced in that country in absentia to five years’ imprisonment for trafficking human beings and facilitating illegal immigration. The Italian judge cited the lack of information about the arrangements for serving a sentence in Belgium for mothers living with their minor children. The Italian Court of Cassation therefore asked the European courts to clarify the conditions for refusing to execute an EAW in this case, which is not mentioned in the Framework Decision on the EAW (EU Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA).
In its judgment, the European Court states that the fact that the wanted person is the mother of young children living with her cannot, on its own, justify a refusal to execute an EAW. By virtue of the principle of mutual trust between Member States, there is a presumption that the conditions of detention in the Member State issuing the EAW are suitable for a mother of young children. However, the judge may, in exceptional circumstances, refuse to hand over the person if: - there is evidence of a real risk of violation of the mother’s fundamental right to respect for her private and family life and of the best interests of her children due to systemic or general shortcomings in the Member State issuing the EAW as regards the conditions of detention and care of mothers with young children; - they have serious and proven grounds for believing that, in view of their personal situation, the persons concerned will run this risk as a result of such conditions.
Link to the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/a7r (Original version in French by Francesco Gariazzo)