The course firstly aims to familiarize students with the basic concepts of European -and particularly EU-based- (economic) criminal law and to address some of the core problems concerning the use of substantive criminal law in the fight against modern economic crime(s). The module will examine the historical evolution and the sources of European and in particular EU criminal law, the liberal guarantees enshrined in it and the effects this legal field has on national criminal law and the general formation of anti-criminal policy, particularly following the Treaty of Lisbon which granted the European Union with broad criminal law powers. The content of significant Council of Europe conventions as well as of key European Union legal tools pertaining to substantive criminal law application in areas such as fraud against the EU’s financial interests, money laundering, corruption and cybercrime will also be analyzed.

Furthermore, the course aims to analyze selected Council of Europe conventions and the main European Union legal tools relating to procedural criminal law which play a pivotal role in the prosecution of economic crime within the modern transnational and EU environment. In this context, students will have the chance to review and analyze the most important EU tools which currently govern cross-border cooperation between national prosecuting and judicial authorities based on the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and orders (e.g. European Arrest Warrant, European Investigative Order) and the structure, responsibilities and the modus operandi of relevant EU supranational bodies, in particular the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Lastly, the rights of persons suspected or prosecuted for financial criminal activities, especially the rights of the accused, are systematically analyzed based on the meaning and substance they acquire within the framework of the modern multi-level system for the protection of fundamental rights (EU Charter of Fundamental Rights/Court of Justice of the European Union, European Convention on Human Rights/ECHR, national laws/national courts).