"The European Commission has requested a study that reviews the entirety of judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU and prepares the future thereof. A such study requires in-depth understanding of the development of that policy domain and consequently – as a starting point – a conceptual study concerning the entirety of the judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Judicial cooperation has not always been an EU competence. The following paragraphs aim at contextualizing the origin of judicial cooperation in criminal matters as an EU policy domain and its close relation to police cooperation in criminal matters." (Quoted from the paper)