On Wednesday 24 June, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation aimed at strengthening the mandate of the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, Eurojust, so that it can respond to the evolution of serious and organised cross-border crime. The text is part of a law enforcement package, which also includes a revision of the mandate of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, Europol, and several judicial cooperation instruments.
As the Commission pointed out, Eurojust’s workload has increased by more than 60% since 2020. In five years, the number of suspects under investigation has increased sixfold, and drug seizures in 2025 were ten times higher than in 2020.
In addition, more than 14,000 criminal investigations have been handled with the support of the agency, leading to the arrest or surrender of 4,400 suspects and support for hundreds of joint investigation teams.
The new mandate for Eurojust should allow it to act on its own initiative in order to identify more quickly links between criminal proceedings conducted in several Member States, determine whether judicial coordination needs to be put in place and help to resolve conflicts of jurisdiction.
Thus, according to the European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, speaking at a press conference, this would no longer be “simply a matter of Eurojust reacting to investigations by the Member States”, but rather “proactivity”.
In addition, the agency could also intervene earlier with national authorities in complex cross-border cases.
Furthermore, Eurojust would be able to act in a wider range of areas, against several forms of emerging crime, notably cybercrime, violations of European Union restrictive measures and gender-based violence.
The European Commission is also proposing the creation of an information system making it easier to identify cases of common interest to Eurojust and Europol, and to facilitate the cross-checking of information between those agencies and other European partners.
Agency reorganisation. The European Commission text also proposes the creation of a management board to take charge of administrative functions and allow national members to devote more time to investigations and prosecutions. Those members would be prosecutors or judges with certain judicial powers.
Better cooperation with third countries. Eurojust could begin its discussions with foreign authorities earlier, host contact points from partner countries and develop more flexible forms of international cooperation. According to the European Commission, all these developments should enable the agency to deal more quickly with criminal cases made complex by their cross-border nature.
The text: https://aeur.eu/f/mj2 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)