Estradizione, mandato d'arresto europeo e superiore interesse del minore

In judgment No. 1677 of 16 January 2020, the Italian Supreme Court dismissed the appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Brescia, which had acknowledged the existence of the conditions for the extradition to Albania of the mother of a child under three years. In particular, the Italian Supreme Court excluded the application by analogy to the extradition procedure of the mandatory ground for refusal provided for by current article 18 (p), of Law n. 69 of 2005, implementing Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA on the European arrest warrant. Nevertheless, the Court made the extradition conditional upon the existence, in the State of destination, of specific forms of protection of the psychophysical integrity of the child, the mother and the whole family. The paper highlights the lack of coherence that the Italian Supreme Court has showed in comparing extradition and the European arrest warrant, which contributed, inter alia, to the incom-plete assessment of the best interests of the child.