The Evolution of Police and Judicial Cooperation in the EU

Based on his recently published seminal work on the manifold efforts to establish cooperation on police and judicial matters in Europe, Prof. Fijnaut will address in a public lecture the various stages, achievements and challenges for the transformations in this area, which have taken place until the current days. Questions and comments can be put forward in the second part of the live session.

Dr. Fijnaut is a Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Criminal Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam, KU Leuven and Tilburg University. He is a leading expert on the transatlantic history of criminology, the containment of organised crime and terrorism, comparative criminal procedure and police law, and the history of policing in Europe and the Low Countries.

In this webinar, the following points will be elaborated:

• The debate surrounding police and judicial cooperation in the European Union can be criticised for focussing too much on certain forms of cooperation or on specific problems. It lacks as a result, a thorough overview of what has been achieved in this area since the Maastricht Treaty. In contrast to the disjointed and mostly secret cooperation between police and judicial services in Europe prior to 1993, the current regime has established a coherent and transparent system within the EU that can only be described as something like peaceful revolution. The presenter aims to portray this development in light of the EU-wide political action programmes (the Brussels Programme, the Tampere Programme, the Hague Programme and the Stockholm Programme) which were drafted in concurrence with all major changes to the constitutional relations within the EU.
• This programmatic approach makes it possible to present in a clear manner the imposing array of police and judicial agencies, facilities and networks (Europol, Schengen Information System, Eurojust, European Arrest Warrant, etc.) created through democratic processes with the aim of ensuring the security of the citizens of the EU.
• In particular, the problems concerning the control of internal and external borders and with respect to the containment of terrorism demonstrate that this system urgently needs to be reinforced. It is ironic that the Brexit negotiations demonstrate the importance of the current system of police and judicial cooperation in the EU: the United Kingdom would like to keep the great benefits of a number of its crucial components.

The webinar is intended to be interactive and participants can share questions in advance on CEPOL’s social media channels or submit them during the session (chat-log).

PROGRAMME:

1. Introduction by Dr. Detlef Nogala, Research & Knowledge Management Officer, CEPOL
2. Presentation by the author Prof. Dr. Cyrille Fijnaut, Tilburg University
3. Question and Answer session Moderator: Prof. Dr. Toine Spapens, Tilburg University

Online-access is public for up to 1000 participants, but requires registration and confirmation by CEPOL.

APPLY HERE