Building from the strong foundations set by European Commissioner Ylva Johansson, this mandate Member States must further strengthen European cooperation in the fight against crime. This was the call as ministers from the Party of European Socialists met ahead of today’s Justice and Home Affairs Council.
Spain’s Minister of the Interior and the Chair of today’s PES ministerial meeting, Fernando Grande-Marlaska said:
“The fight against drug trafficking and organised crime is a priority for our political family. We want to see stronger cooperation in this area in this mandate.
“The recent commitment by the Commission to double Europol staff is a welcome and important step. We must build on this, to further strengthen police cooperation in the EU to better combat organised crime and drug trafficking. Europol, EPPO and the AMLA need to be strengthened so that we have a truly European investigative body to assist Member States in the fight against these crimes.”
Outgoing European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson focused heavily during this mandate on ensuring proper implementation of laws on the interoperability of EU information systems and improve cross-border cooperation between law enforcement authorities.
Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska added:
“I would like to thank European Commissioner Ylva Johansson for her efforts over the last mandate. Thanks to her dedication and careful steering of the agenda, the EU is stronger in its fight against organised crime. As we look to strengthen it further, we thank her for the solid foundation that she has built this mandate.”
According to Europol, cross-border crime such as drug trafficking and organised crime remains a significant threat. A 2024 report by the organisation identified 821 criminal networks it categorised as ‘most threatening’, ranging from drug trafficking (36%) and migrant smuggling (6%) to fraud (15%) and organised property crime (8%).
Europol has concluded that the most threatening criminal networks exceed 25,000 individuals, often operating across EU borders. Drug trafficking clearly stands out as a key activity, accounting for half of the most serious criminal networks.
The 2024 PES European elections manifesto contained a proposal to improve police cooperation to fight against terrorism, organised crime, drug and arms trafficking, cyber-crime, money laundering and gender-based crimes. It also advocated for increasing cooperation among European ports to prevent the influx of narcotics into Europe.
Meeting in Luxembourg, ministers also discussed other areas on the Just and Home Affairs agenda, including internal movement, migration and regulations to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.
The meeting was attended by:
