Procedimento penale, diritto di difesa e garanzie partecipative nel diritto dell’Unione europea

Over the last years, a participatory understanding of criminal proceedings has grown in the multicultural European scenario mostly thanks to the rich case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and its strong influence on national legal systems. Since 2009, the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty has led to the EU engaging in the enhancement of defence rights in criminal proceedings. Although this has given rise to a new season of intensive reforms, the voice and participatory rights of private parties in criminal proceedings are still weak and acknowledged in a rather fragmentary way. This paper analyses the path EU legislation has walked over the last two decades in strengthening the defence rights in both transnational and national cases, verifying moreover whether and to what extent the EU harmonisation respects the standards of protection laid down both at national level and by the European Convention on Human Rights