Brussels was handed sweeping new powers to interfere in the British criminal justice system in the run-up to the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force in 2009 when some 90 new powers in this area were given over to the EU.
They include the creation of a controversial European arrest warrant, allowing foreign countries to issue arrest warrants to Britons and try them in their absence, and the creation of a new, over-arching EU judicial body called Eurojust.
British judges and ministers are now barred from blocking the extradition of UK citizens to other EU countries — even where the charges appear to be trumped up.
