On Monday 2 December, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), in collaboration with the Legislative Dialogue Unit of the Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments, organised the committee’s fifth interparliamentary meeting on the “Evaluation of Eurojust’s Activities”, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation. Following a speech on the annual report by its President, Michael Schmid (see EUROPE 13536/15), this event provided an opportunity to present Eurojust’s progress in the fight against organised crime and the response to the war in Ukraine.
Stepping up the fight against organised crime. The Vice-President of Eurojust, Boštjan Škrlec, highlighted the scale of drug trafficking in Europe, an activity generating annual profits estimated at 139 billion euros. In 2023, Eurojust coordinated almost 1,000 organised crime cases, including an operation against the Calabrian mafia ‘Ndrangheta, which led to the arrest of 132 members.
He also presented the ‘European Judicial Organised Crime Network’, a tool designed to strengthen cross-border cooperation between prosecutors, launched in September (see EUROPE 13491/10).
José de la Mata Amaya, Eurojust College member for Spain, described the role of international partnerships in the fight against drug trafficking.
He mentioned the creation of a network of contact points in 70 jurisdictions and recent agreements with Latin American countries such as Panama and Ecuador.
These collaborative efforts have led to the dismantling of drug trafficking networks, including an operation targeting an Albanian group, which resulted in the seizure of two tonnes of cocaine worth 70 million euros.
José de la Mata Amaya emphasised the central role of Eurojust’s liaison prosecutors, who contribute to investigations in key regions such as the Balkans and Latin America. In 2023, these prosecutors were involved in 708 cases, 25% of which concerned drug trafficking.
The discussions confirmed the importance of closer international collaboration. Eurojust, in partnership with the European Commission, is negotiating crucial agreements with countries such as Colombia and Brazil to advance transnational justice, which has demonstrated Eurojust’s decisive role within European justice in dealing with international issues.
Response to the war in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has transformed Eurojust’s priorities, as Margarita Šniutytė-Daugėlienė, Vice-President of the agency, pointed out. The CICED database, created to centralise evidence of the main international crimes, now contains more than 3,500 files.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which brings together six Member States, Ukraine and the International Criminal Court, has stepped up investigations into acts of torture and illegal detention.
Myroslava Krasnoborova, Liaison Prosecutor for Ukraine, explained the role of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA). This centre, launched in July 2023, aims to collect and analyse evidence of crimes of aggression with a view to future prosecutions. She stressed the importance of preventing future atrocities, in particular by closing loopholes in controls on sensitive exports to Russia.
To read Eurojust’s Annual Report 2023: https://aeur.eu/f/ema (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)