The Prosecutor's Office highlights the "considerable increase" in the number of Euroorders in 2021 with Germany and France in the lead

The increase, also in extraditions, would respond to the gradual "normalization" after the pandemic

MADRID, 7 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The State Attorney General's Office has highlighted the "considerable increase" in the number of European Arrest and Surrender Orders (OEDE) initiated in 2021, an increase of 41% compared to 2020 that would respond to the "gradual recovery in the number of claims" of before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has been stated by the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, in the section related to International Cooperation in the 2021 Prosecutor's Report, which was presented this Wednesday in the Supreme Court during the opening of the judicial year.

Of the total of 1,165 orders, 714 were the responsibility of the National High Court Prosecutor's Office and 451 of the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office. At the head, according to data from the Memory, Germany (199), followed by France (194), Italy (133) and Romania (115).

With regard to passive extradition requests, the Central Investigating Courts have opened a total of 366 files: 264 in matters within the jurisdiction of the National High Court Prosecutor's Office and 102 in matters under the jurisdiction of the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office. "A significant increase of 34% is observed compared to 2020, the year in which 272 files were opened, and exceeding the levels prior to the pandemic with 335 files in 2019," the document highlights.

By country, the main requesting states are Morocco (41), Peru (38), the United Kingdom (37), Russia (26) and the USA (25).

The Prosecutor's Office justifies this increase in that the field of judicial cooperation, "for obvious reasons, has turned out to be more sensitive to the effects of the pandemic" by entailing the transfer of people.

"The normalization process regarding delivery times in OEDE has been taking place gradually and is normalized in 2021; extradition procedures, in particular with some third States, have taken longer to reach said normalization," he explains.

Regarding the execution of requests received at the Prosecutor's Office, in 2021, 1,465 rogatory letters were registered, a figure slightly higher than the 1,353 in 2020 and also the 1,439 rogatory commissions in 2019.

On the other hand, the number of European Information Orders (OEI) amounts to a total of 4,606, very similar to that of 2020, when 4,552 were initiated. "In total, the sum of the two types of requests for assistance again yields a growing result of 6,071 compared to 5,905 requests for execution in 2020, which continues to reflect the gradual increase, more noticeable than in previous years but that has not yet peaked. ", considers the Prosecutor's Office.