Criminal liability of political decision-makers : a comparative perspective PDF
Preview Criminal liability of political decision-makers : a comparative perspective
Frank Zimmermann E ditor Criminal Liability of Political Decision-Makers A Comparative Perspective Criminal Liability of Political Decision-Makers Frank Zimmermann Editor Criminal Liability of Political Decision-Makers A Comparative Perspective Editor FrankZimmermann FacultyofLaw Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita¨tMu¨nchen Munich,Germany ISBN978-3-319-52050-6 ISBN978-3-319-52051-3 (eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-52051-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017951131 ©SpringerInternationalPublishingAG2017 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained hereinor for anyerrors oromissionsthat may havebeenmade. Thepublisher remainsneutralwith regardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Preface Inmodernstates,personsholdingapublicofficearenomorethanordinarycitizens. Therefore,theiractivitiesmust—asamatterofprinciple—besubjecttofulljudicial control. At the same time, democratically legitimated decision-makers must also have some discretion in exercising their functions. Otherwise, false allegations regardingoffencescommittedinofficemighteasilybeabusedtodiscreditpolitical opponents. This is the fundamental conflict that the contributions in the present volumeseektoinvestigate.Theyoriginatefromacomparativecriminallawproject that was conducted from 2014 to 2016 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universita¨t München and generously funded by the LMUexcellent programme. The book is composedoftwomajorparts. The first part consists of a comparative case study in which nine European countries are represented. It examines (1) the criminal liability for political deci- sions that affect public budgets, (2) bribery offences in the context of political decision-making, as well as (3) safeguards against politically motivated criminal proceedings (e.g., immunities and special courts or procedural rules). The project group was composed of the following colleagues, who also wrote the country reports:Wendy DeBondt(Belgium),Dan Helenius (Finland),GuillaumeChetard (France),FrankZimmermann (Germany),AthinaGiannakoula(Greece),Federica Iovene and Nicola Recchia (Italy), Willem Geelhoed (the Netherlands), Annika Suominen(Norway)andManuelMarotoCalatayud(Spain). Thesecondpartofthebookreassemblescontributionsfromthefinalconference that concluded the comparative project. In the first five papers of that section, members of the project group draw conclusions from the country reports. They addresstheapplicationofoffencesprotectingpublicbudgetstopoliticaldecisions (FrankZimmermann),briberyinthecontextofpoliticaldecisions(ManuelMaroto Calatayud),specialcriminalsanctionsagainstpoliticians(DanHelenius),immuni- ties (Federica Iovene) and special courts for proceedings against politicians (Annika Suominen). The other contributions do not restrain themselves to a pre- sentationofthecomparativeprojectbutdiscusstheinterplaybetweencriminallaw andpoliticsfromabroaderperspective.Theyincludepaperswrittenbymembersof v vi Preface the project group, but we also feel very honoured that several internationally renowned experts of criminal law and procedure accepted our invitation to share theirviewsonthematter:GabrielPe´rezBarbera´ (Argentina)elaboratesondisloy- alty as the core element of corruption offences. Bernd Heinrich (Germany) addresses the topic of elite corruption. Athina Giannakoula examines whether ill-motivated criminal proceedings might become a tool in the political arena, whereas Nicola Recchia looks at the other side of the coin and asks whether politicians can shield themselves from criminal liability. Petter Asp (Sweden) adds some general thoughts on the criminal liability of political decision-makers in times of crisis. Finally, some legal systems show particularities or specific developments concerning the criminal liability of politicians: Ragnheiður Bragado´ttir (Iceland) provides us with detailed information on the criminal trial against Iceland’s former Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, who was convicted a few years ago for his reaction (or lack of reaction) to the financial crisis in Iceland. Wendy De Bondt addresses the role of hate speech offences in the context of politicaldebates inBelgium.Willem Geelhoed casts alook attheDutch prosecu- torialsystem,whichischaracterisedbyahighdegreeofdiscretion,andexamines howitworkswithregardtopoliticians.Last,notleast,GuillaumeChetardexplains what role the criminal liability of public entities for accidents plays in the French legalsystem. When a comparative project that lasted for 3 years is finally completed with a publication like the present one, this is the result of many persons’ work and support.Therefore,thefollowingacknowledgementsneedtobemade. In the first place, I want to thank the members of the project group for their outstanding commitment andthe friendships thatdeveloped fromourcooperation (andalsofortheirpatiencewhentheywereaskedtoanswerlengthyquestionsand explaintheirlegalsystemstoaforeigner). Furthermore,myearnestthanksgotoeverybodywhoenrichedtheproject’sfinal conference and/or this book with their contributions. Apart from the persons alreadymentioned,thisgoesparticularlytoChristophBurchard,whodidnotonly give a most inspiring presentation but also has supported me a lot during the last years.Ofcourse,theconferencealsogreatlybenefitedfromthefactthatexcellent expertschairedthepanels,namelyBerndSchünemann,PetraWittig,PedroCaeiro andMariaKaiafa-Gbandi. The entire project could not have been implemented without the enduring supportand advice offered bymygreatteacherandfriend, HelmutSatzger. Also, many members of his team at the LMU München selflessly helped preparing the final conference, especially Annika Mette and (in alphabetical order) Julia Fünfgeld, Laura Funke, Lorca´n Hyde, Philipp Kellner, Johannes Kleinhenz, Benedikt Linder, Laura Neumann, Florian Ruhs, Lorenz Seidl, Maximilian Seuß, IsabelVicar´ıaBarkerandJanWiebers. Last,notleast,twopersonshaveprobablycontributedmorethananybodyelseto thisprojectbecausetheywerenotonlydeeplyinvolvedintheresearchcarriedout butalsomanagedtheorganisationofthefinalconference,aswellasthepreparatory workshops, and helped me cope with administrative tasks: Simon Deuring Preface vii sacrificed much more time and gave much more scientific input than I could ever have expected froma law student. Finally, my mostimportant aide from the very beginningoftheprojectuntilitsendwasJulianeAbel.Nomatterhowdifficultor cumbersomethetaskswere,shewassimplybrilliant.Withouther,thisbookwould notexist. Munich,Germany FrankZimmermann July2017 Contents PartI ComparativeCaseStudy:CountryReports Introduction:ComparingtheCriminalLiabilityofPolitical Decision-MakersontheBasisofaConcreteCase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 FrankZimmermann TheCasetoBeAnalysed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 FrankZimmermann CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinBelgium. . . . . . . . . . 11 WendyDeBondt CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinFinland. . . . . . . . . . 35 DanHelenius CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinFrance. . . . . . . . . . . 63 GuillaumeChetard CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinGermany. . . . . . . . . 91 FrankZimmermann CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinGreece. . . . . . . . . . . 119 AthinaGiannakoula CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinItaly. . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 FedericaIoveneandNicolaRecchia CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersintheNetherlands. . . . 167 WillemGeelhoed CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinNorway. . . . . . . . . . 193 AnnikaSuominen CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinSpain. . . . . . . . . . . . 225 ManuelMarotoCalatayud ix x Contents PartII ConclusionsfromtheCountryReportsandFurtherThoughts ontheInterplayofCriminalLawandPolitics AComparativeAnalysisofCriminalLawsProtectingPublicBudgets: CanBadPoliticalDecisionsBeCriminalised?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 FrankZimmermann CriminalResponsibilityofPoliticalDecision-Makersand Bribery-RelatedOffences:ABriefComparativeAnalysisof SomeProminentAspects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 ManuelMarotoCalatayud AComparativeAnalysisofSpecialSanctionsApplicabletoPolitical Decision-Makers. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . 281 DanHelenius AComparativeAnalysisofNationalProvisionsGrantingImmunity toPoliticians. . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. 293 FedericaIovene ComparingSpecialProceduralRulesfortheProsecutionofPoliticians: ABlessingoraCurse?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 AnnikaSuominen CorruptionasDisloyalty?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 GabrielPe´rezBarbera´ PoliticalDecision-MakingandthePhenomenonofEliteCorruption. . . 323 BerndHeinrich Ill-MotivatedCriminalProceedingsasaMeansinthePolitical Arena?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 AthinaGiannakoula CanPoliticiansShieldThemselvesAgainstCriminalLiability ByMeansofLawReform?. .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . 343 NicolaRecchia CriminalLiabilityofPoliticalDecision-MakersinTimeofCrisis. . . . . 351 PetterAsp CriminalLawandtheFinancialCrisis:TheProceedingsAgainst Iceland’sFormerPrimeMinisterGeirH.Haarde. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 RagnheiðurBragado´ttir ProsecutorialDiscretionintheNetherlands:AnAdvantage forPoliticians?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 WillemGeelhoed Contents xi ThePoliticsofPoliticalHateSpeechinBelgium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 WendyDeBondt CriminalLiabilityforAccidentsinFrance:IsCorporateCriminal LiabilityofPublicEntitiestheSolution?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 GuillaumeChetard
The list of books you might like
