In its Single Programming Document 2026-2028, published on Thursday 13 November, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, Eurojust, notes that cross-border organised crime has undergone profound changes since it was set up in 2002.
And with good reason: criminal networks now operate well beyond the borders of the European Union, thanks in particular to advanced technological tools.
They also take advantage of the grey areas that exist between the legal mechanisms of the Member States.
In view of these changes, Eurojust is making the digitalisation of judicial cooperation a major challenge in its strategy for the coming years.
The Commission’s ‘Omnibus’ proposal to digitalise all judicial cooperation instruments and make the digital channel the default channel for all cross-border exchanges of judicial information bears witness to this paradigm shift.
These include the launch of JUDEX, the future secure channel for facilitating and tracing communications on European investigation warrants, mutual legal assistance and other major instruments.
Added to this is the modernisation of the case management system (CMS), which is destined to play a central role in Eurojust’s new digital infrastructure. In addition, the integration of the Counter Terrorism Register, networking with other European systems and the ability to automatically identify links between multinational procedures should greatly improve the agency’s analytical capacity and responsiveness.
However, these digital changes are correlated with issues such as the rise in cyber-risks, the increasing complexity of systems, and the massive increase in the amount of data to be processed. This is why Eurojust will not only modernise its infrastructure, but also consolidate the security of its IT environments and call on the human resources needed to deal with these new tools.
In addition, the agency will continue to develop its partnerships outside the EU, implementing its 2024-2027 strategy for cooperation with third countries. Since crime “knows no borders”, international cooperation, backed up by digital tools, is necessary for judicial efficiency.
By 2028, Eurojust aims to consolidate its role as a pillar in the fight against transnational crime and to be a modernised, better-connected agency capable of providing rapid operational support to European prosecutors and judges.
To see the Single Programming Document: https://aeur.eu/f/jgk (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)