Another brick in the whole: The case-law of the court of justice on free movement and its possible impact on European criminal law

EU and criminal laws had been interacting in many ways even before the Union was conferred upon an explicit competence in criminal matters with the Treaty of Maastricht. Such intersections between supranational and national provisions frequently have been handled by the CJEU. Mostly, the intervention of the Court has been triggered by Member States’ recourse to penal sanctions in situations covered by EU law. In such cases, the CJEU is called upon to strike a complicated balance: it has to deal with Member States claims of competence in criminal law, by ensuring, at the same time, that that power is used consistently with EU law. By making reference to selected cases, this paper highlights the impact that principles established in the context of the fundamental freedoms can have on EU criminal law.