The increasing power of the European Union in the field of criminal law and the consequences for the national law of the Member States

The increasing power of the European Union in the field of criminal law and the consequences for the national law of the Member StatesKeywords: criminal law, European Union, EU primary law, EU secondary law, EAW, EIO.In the following pages, the author gives a brief explanation of what does it mean European criminal law and which parts of criminal law are actually affected by the EU. Possible future development is assessed in the last part ofthe article. The article aims to present a brief history of European criminal law, that helps us understand why the EU criminal law has its main features and why the specific areas are affected. The specification of rules and areasdirectly affected by European criminal law explains the EU’s influence and its interest in involvement in particular social relations and also in criminal law which developed into the increasing importance of EU criminal law in lastyears. The article uncovered and explained the positive elements of EU criminal law and envisaged the future deeper harmonisation in the field of criminal law which the author thinks is a natural development of the EU integration,which started more than 70 years ago