A Plea for A ‘European Anti-Mafia Court’. Inquiry on the Feasibility and Desirability of a Vertical Prosecutorial Forum Dealing with Transnational Organised Crime at the European Union Level

Calabrian ‘Ndrine, Albanian Mafia, Mocro Maffia, Camorra… these groups are spreading out across Europe without even being noticed much. The same groups then act, often undisturbed, to launder illicit proceeds into the economies of EU states that allow them to do so, first and foremost the Benelux states. Too many differences in views, too distorted a perception of security with respect to mafias by most EU states, too many different and uncoordinated national methods to respond effectively to criminal groups that, instead, act in a central and coordinated manner. The EU thus remains easy prey for criminal organisations. But then what is the way forward? The European Public Prosecutor’s Office was recently established, which has prosecutorial prerogatives based on a centralised system of investigation. The problem, however, may reside in the nature of the criminal proceedings that EPPO can begin as of today, which are initiated and concluded in a decentralised way in the national courts of the individual EU states where the EU Public Prosecutor decides to set up trials. And it is precisely here that we need to have the courage to change and favour a European Union spillover effect in criminal law issues, through the establishment of a ‘European Anti-Mafia Court’.