Germany intends to take the opportunity of its EU Council Presidency to raise awareness among the Member States of a phenomenon it knows well--clan crime, according to a memorandum it drafted on 8 September, a copy of which has been obtained by EUROPE.
The country has indeed been exceptionally affected by this phenomenon and, after a series of bloody conflicts in the very heart of its capital, it decided to harden its tone and go to war against the mafia clans operating on its territory.
This distinctive form of crime, which may be based on family relationships or a common ethnic origin, is generally characterised by highly isolated offenders, which makes it easier for them to commit crimes and makes them more difficult to find, Berlin points out.
“The German Presidency believes that an open exchange between Member States at European level on organised family crime/clans can contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon, raise awareness of the problem in Member States where these groups have not yet established themselves, and create networks for future cooperation and the exchange of operational best practices”, it explains.
In the note, it announced the intention to investigate this phenomenon from various angles at several events, starting with a research conference in October 2020, followed by a meeting of the European Network on the Administrative Approach (ENAA) and a field visit in November, and then a meeting of the European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN) in December.
As a first step, the German Presidency has sent a questionnaire to the Member States, to which they are expected to respond by 22 October, asking them about their experiences with this phenomenon, the specific problems encountered, their police strategies, their administrative approaches, and the specific preventive measures they have taken. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)