Agenda
Organized crime is a threat to European citizens, businesses, state institutions as well as the economy as a whole. Criminals easily operate across borders, which creates a need for consistent European–level action. The EU continuously adapts its response in relation to the growing complexity of the situation. This is also reflected in the development of specialized EU agencies, such as Europol, Eurojust and CEPOL.
European Commission
Institutional Structure
The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) acts as co-legislator of the EU by henceforth adopting directives and regulations over the whole field of justice and home affairs. The council brings together the justice and home affairs ministers approximately every other month, to discuss the development and implementation of cooperation and common policies in this sector.
Council of the European Union
Budget
The EU has allocated a budget of EUR 53.7 million to the area of prevention of and fight against crime, which targets law enforcement, cross-border cooperation, information exchange and training among law enforcement authorities, as well as the protection of witnesses and victims.
EU Budget 2013
History
Justice and home affairs (JHA) policies are the newest European Union policies. They were first brought into the ambit of the European Union in 1992 when the Maastricht Treaty added foreign and security policy and justice and home affairs policies as EU responsibilities to the well-established economic policies of the European Community. At Tampere (Finland red.) the European Council met in special session in October 1999 to give a kick-start to the EU’s justice and home affairs (JHA) policies.
European Commission
Challenges
Demographic
Changes in the wider global environment will provide new opportunities for criminal activity. Demographic shifts such as an ageing EU population are likely to prove fertile ground for labour migration, raising the possibility of increased trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation and the facilitation of illegal immigration. Economic disparity also will continue to bring individuals into greater proximity to organized crime.
Europol
Organized Crime
As borders come down within and beyond Europe, it is not only legitimate businesses that are benefiting, but also those that produce illegal drugs, traffic in humans, manufacture fake luxury goods, and counterfeit euros – businesses better known as organised crime – are profiting too, according to a new report from the EU's criminal intelligence agency.
BusinessWeek
Human Trafficking
In 2010 Member States reported a total number of 9528 identified and presumed victims and the subset of Member States which provided data for all three reference years showed an increase of 18 % between 2008 and 2010. A clear majority (61 %) of the identified and presumed victims come from EU Member States.
Eurostat
Current status
Constantly the number of crimes recorded by the police in the European Union has fallen since about 2002, but during the period 2006-2009 this trend showed signs of slowing down. The highest homicide rates are found in Lithuania and Estonia, and the lowest in Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Spain. Homicide rates for the major cities tend to mirror the national trends while being, in general, rather higher.
Eurostat
Key Policies
Europol is the European Union’s law enforcement agency. The agency uses its unique information capabilities and the expertise of its staff to identify and track the most dangerous criminal and terrorist networks in Europe. Law enforcement authorities in the EU rely on this intelligence work and the services of Europol’s operational coordination centre and secure information network.
Europol
Eurojust
Eurojust stimulates and improves the coordination of investigations and prosecutions between the competent authorities in the Member States. Furthermore it improves the cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States, in particular by facilitating the execution of international mutual legal assistance and the implementation of extradition requests.
Eurojust
Frontex
Frontex promotes, coordinates and develops European border management in line with the EU fundamental rights charter applying the concept of Integrated Border Management. Frontex helps border authorities from different EU countries work together. The agency was set up in 2004 to reinforce and streamline cooperation between national border authorities.
Frontex
CEPOL
CEPOL is a European Union Agency, established in 2005. CEPOL's mission is to bring together senior police officers from police forces in Europe - essentially to support the development of a network - and encourage cross-border cooperation in the fight against crime, public security and law and order by organizing training activities and research findings.
CEPOL
International Cooperation
Besides adopting a legal framework for judicial cooperation in criminal matters (to complement the existing CoE framework), the European Union has set up various institutions to facilitate cooperation and coordination, in particular through liaison magistrates, the European Judicial Network in Criminal Matters (EJN) and its contact points, as well as Eurojust.
European Commission
Key Figures
Crime RateThere were an estimated 28 million crimes recorded by the police within the EU-27 in 2009 (see Table 2). From 2000, the number of recorded crimes in the EU-27 rose to a peak in 2002 and 2003, but subsequently fell each year through to 2009. Decreases of more than 10 % between 2003 and 2009 were observed in Malta, the United Kingdom, Poland, Greece and France.
Eurostat
Miscellaneous
The Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement abolished internal borders, enabling passport-free movement between a large number of European countries. Schengen is now under review because in 2011 there were surges in illegal migration from Africa and Asia, via Italy and Greece in particular.
BBC
Exceptions
Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland do not participate fully in the implementation of certain measures relating to the fields of justice and home affairs or that their participation is subject to certain conditions.
Council of the European Union
The Stockholm Programme
The Stockholm Programme sets out the European Union’s (EU) priorities for the area of justice, freedom and security for the period 2010-14. Building on the achievements of its predecessors the Tampere and Hague Programmes, it aims to meet future challenges and further strengthen the area of justice, freedom and security with actions focusing on the interests and needs of citizens.
Europa.eu
Transition to Globalisation
The Globalization of Drug Trade
The international drug trade is now worth an estimated $400 billion annually. Only the arms industry has a higher turnover than this. Like car making, pharmaceuticals or even banking, the drug trade has become a truly global industry: it knows no frontiers and has no particular national identity.
Globalization >> Economy >> Grey Area >> Narcotics
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Transition to Political Tools
International Statistics on Crime and Justice
Results suggest that the highest homicide levels are found in the Americas and Africa region, with the lowest homicide levels generally in countries in Europe. For those countries where trend data is available, the majority show decreasing or stable homicide rates, with the exception of a number of countries, predominantly in the Americas that show high and increasing rates.
Political Tools > Global > UN > Policies > Social > Crime
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Transition to Political Actors
The Role of Civil Society in EU Migration Policy
Civil society engagement can be beneficial for the legitimization of government actions and policies, and can be used to optimize the EU migrations policies. By providing and establishing a framework for dialogue between the civil society and government institutions, the EU can help neighboring states, eg. in Northern Africa, to higher recognition among its own people and thereby better address migrations issues in EU.
Political Actors >> Civil Society >> NGOs >> Human Rights >> Migration
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
