The underutilisation of the european supervision order: Framework decision 2009/829/jha as just a scrap of paper

Abstract

On 23 October 2009, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted Framework Decision 2009/829/JHA, creating the European Supervision Order (ESO). This instrument allows EU citizens involved in criminal proceedings in a Member State and subject to supervision measures (alternatives to pre-trial detention) to return to their own countries pending trial, where they are supervised by the competent judicial authorities. Despite the high number of EU nationals in EU prisons, the ESO has been used sparingly since it became effective. This article examines the obstacles facing its implementation, such as the lack of trust, knowledge about this tool and motivation for using it among the competent authorities and provides proposals for overcoming them: more training for the competent authorities, the creation of a centralised body to act as an intermediary between them or some form of annual monitoring of the use of Framework Decisions (FDs) by the Council of the European Union or similar are some of the proposals developed during this research to promote the use of the ESO and make that this important Decision does not remain a meaningless piece of paper.