The case C-489/19 PPU concerns:
Reference for a preliminary ruling - urgent preliminary ruling procedure - Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters - European arrest warrant - Framework Decision 2002/584 / JHA - Article 6 (1) - Issuing judicial authority - Independence of the public prosecutor's office with regard to the executive power - Criteria for assessment - European arrest warrant issued by a public prosecutor and approved, after exhaustive review, by a court of ordinary law prior to its implementation.
The question referred to the CJEU:
Does the dependence of a public prosecutor's office on instructions prevent him from effectively issuing a European arrest warrant, even if that decision is subject to a full judicial review before the execution of the European arrest warrant?
The Opinion of the Advocate General in this case was issued on 17 September 2019.
The Judgment is available here.
The Court (Second Chamber) ruled:
"The concept of a ‘European arrest warrant’ referred to in Article 1(1) of Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States, as amended by Council Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA of 26 February 2009, must be interpreted as meaning that European arrest warrants issued by the public prosecutor’s offices of a Member State fall within that concept, despite the fact that those public prosecutor’s offices are exposed to the risk of being subject, directly or indirectly, to directions or instructions in a specific case from the executive, such as a Minister for Justice, in the context of the issue of those arrest warrants, provided that those arrest warrants are subject, in order to be transmitted by those public prosecutor’s offices, to endorsement by a court which reviews independently and objectively, having access to the entire criminal file to which any specific directions or instructions from the executive are added, the conditions of issue and the proportionality of those arrest warrants, thus adopting an autonomous decision which gives them their final form".