Judicial and Police Cooperation in the European Union

The fight against crime, within the framework of the European Union, is fundamental to its sustainability. In order to achieve it, Member States have needed to build a common area of freedom, security and justice, in which cooperation and coordination are the paramount importance. Crime does not understand about borders, which is why such cooperation becomes increasingly essential to have an effective reaction to control criminality.Because of globalization, international criminal organizations, whose networks reach several countries, commit profit crimes which affect different European and not European countries and their people. Crimes such as cybercrime, drug trafficking, financial crime, migrant smuggling, terrorism, or trafficking in human beings are some of which these criminal organizations carry out under cover of impunity, legal loopholes and competition problems among courts of different countries.But not only organized crime has become international, but also ordinary crime. We can see examples of this in our daily life. Someone from a computer located in the city of Bucharest could make fraudulent bank card charges to a citizen who lives in Paris, or a person who lives in Rome persecuted by Italian justice could travel to Brussels crossing no type of border to escape justice.As a representative entity of all citizens, the European Union and its Institutions have the duty to adapt their policies to guarantee member states an effective fight against this kind of international crime. To counter these threats, we need a common effort to prevent and fight crime and criminal organizations throughout the Union. The joint mobilization of police and judicial resources is needed to guarantee that there is no hiding place for criminals or the proceeds of crime within the Union .For this reason, the European Institutions, especially the European Parliament and the Council, have created a series of tools, both police and judicial, to combat this problem.Throughout this work, we will analyse, on one hand, the judicial cooperation, tools and agencies which have been created to achieve this aim and, on the other hand, the police cooperation and how it works. We will verify effectiveness in the fight against international crime.

The fight against crime, within the framework of the European Union, is fundamental to its sustainability. In order to achieve it, Member States have needed to build a common area of freedom, security and justice, in which cooperation and coordination are the paramount importance. Crime does not understand about borders, which is why such cooperation becomes increasingly essential to have an effective reaction to control criminality.Because of globalization, international criminal organizations, whose networks reach several countries, commit profit crimes which affect different European and not European countries and their people. Crimes such as cybercrime, drug trafficking, financial crime, migrant smuggling, terrorism, or trafficking in human beings are some of which these criminal organizations carry out under cover of impunity, legal loopholes and competition problems among courts of different countries.But not only organized crime has become international, but also ordinary crime. We can see examples of this in our daily life. Someone from a computer located in the city of Bucharest could make fraudulent bank card charges to a citizen who lives in Paris, or a person who lives in Rome persecuted by Italian justice could travel to Brussels crossing no type of border to escape justice.As a representative entity of all citizens, the European Union and its Institutions have the duty to adapt their policies to guarantee member states an effective fight against this kind of international crime. To counter these threats, we need a common effort to prevent and fight crime and criminal organizations throughout the Union. The joint mobilization of police and judicial resources is needed to guarantee that there is no hiding place for criminals or the proceeds of crime within the Union .For this reason, the European Institutions, especially the European Parliament and the Council, have created a series of tools, both police and judicial, to combat this problem.Throughout this work, we will analyse, on one hand, the judicial cooperation, tools and agencies which have been created to achieve this aim and, on the other hand, the police cooperation and how it works. We will verify effectiveness in the fight against international crime.