arbiter
JournalsAccount

The role of EU criminal law in defending European values

Valsamis Mitsilegas

Common Market Law Review2026https://doi.org/10.54648/cola2026015article
ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

The present contribution addresses the role of EU criminal law in defending European values. The focus is on EU substantive criminal law; namely, the production, at EU level, of definitions of criminal offences and systems related to the imposition of criminal sanctions. It is the thesis of this paper that EU substantive criminal law has a key role in defending European values through the introduction of new criminal offences at EU level. The analysis focuses on the extent to which values-driven EU criminal law can be adopted, from an EU competence perspective, under the criminalization legal basis of Article 83 TFEU and proposes constitutional avenues for values-driven criminalization. The contribution calls for a paradigm shift in the adoption of EU substantive criminal law: from the current paradigm of securitized and functional criminalization to an additional paradigm of values-driven criminalization.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.54648/cola2026015

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{valsamis2026,
  title        = {{The role of EU criminal law in defending European values}},
  author       = {Valsamis Mitsilegas},
  journal      = {Common Market Law Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.54648/cola2026015},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The role of EU criminal law in defending European values

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.