Criminal Law and the European Communities: Defining the Issues

While the development of a common criminal justice policy lies more within the general objectives of the Council of Europe, of which all states composing the European Communities are members, there are nevertheless a number of problems which are specific to the Communities and which may call for a special response on their part. This article makes a short tour d’horizon of the different issues at stake and briefly describes the efforts which have been or are being undertaken to resolve them.