The Role of the EU in the Investigation of Serious International Crimes Committed in Ukraine. Towards a New Model of Cooperation?

This contribution is developed in two parts. The first describes, although in short terms, the actions taken by the EU to fight CIC, in approximatively the last two decades. The second part deals with the steps taken by the EU in the aftermath of the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine. The focus is in particular on the decision to set up a joint investigation team between some EU Member States, a non-EU State (Ukraine) and an international institution (the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court – OTP ICC). Furthermore, some considerations are spent to the amendment of the Eurojust Regulation, adopted in May 2022, which gives this body a specific competence in the investigation, collection, and preservation of evidence in the field of international crimes. The underlying question is whether the latest steps constitute a unicum, which cannot be repeated, or open the path for a new chapter in a long-cultivated EU strategy in the field of international criminal justice. The hypothesis, if the latter approach prevails (which, at the moment, remains to be seen), is that we could be facing a turning point in the framework of the fight against impunity for serious international crimes, thanks to the role played by the EU. In particular, the extension of the mutual recognition principle to the judicial cooperation regarding CIC, due to the closer engagement of the EU institutions, may imply an increased efficiency in investigations and prosecution, of which the main beneficiary could be the International Criminal Court.