ECBA Chair Vânia Costa Ramos and Vice-Chair Amedeo Barletta participated in the third meeting of the High Leve lForum on EU Criminal Justice — a vital initiative to reflect on the state of our legal forest and help shape its future.

The EU criminal justice system is like a forest: a living ecosystem of legal instruments, institutions, and principles. To ensure its vitality, we must care for its roots — fundamental rights, mutual trust, and procedural safeguards — while pruning overgrown branches and nurturing new growth. 

In preparation for this reflection, the ECBA prepared a brief summarizing some of our main proposals:

“The ECBA’s Agenda for European Criminal Justice – Redefining EU Criminal Justice: a Vision for a Fairer System.”

Our proposals aim to:
- Strengthen the proportionality and subsidiarity of the European Arrest Warrant
- Ensure mutual recognition of refusal decisions to prevent repeated arrests across Member States
- Promote interoperability among legal instruments to avoid fragmentation
- Advocate for global defence rights and legal aid in cross-border cases
- Encourage the fair use of video-conferencing, with safeguards to protect the right to a fair trial

Click here to read the whole Agenda.