Art 87(1) TFEU says: “The Union shall establish police cooperation involving all the Member States’ competent authorities, including police, customs and other specialised law enforcement services in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences.”

The 2000 Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters facilitates mutual assistance between police and customs authorities of the Member States in order to improve the speed and efficiency of cooperation and contains detail on how requests for assistance are dealt with.

Cooperation is achieved through participation in European Agencies like Europol (Support Centre for Law Enforcement Operations) and Cepol (EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training) and information sharing programmes like ECRIS, FADO, the Schengen Information System and the Prum Treaty.

Policy adviser:

Rita Giannini