Background

The EU-STNA 2026–2029 identifies the strategic and EU-level training needs of LE officials for the next four-year cycle of the EMPACT. It provides a consolidated, evidence-based foundation for guiding EU-level training and capacity-building, ensuring that collective efforts effectively support operational cooperation, interoperability, and policy coherence across the Union.
 

Established under Regulation (EU) 2015/2219, which mandates CEPOL to assess strategic training needs and deliver multiannual learning programmes, the EU-STNA functions as the Union’s central mechanism for identifying law enforcement capability gaps and translating them into coordinated EU-level training priorities. Bringing together the Member States, the European Commission, CEPOL, and other JHA agencies, the EU-STNA ensures that EU-level training provision supports the Union’s common internal security objectives and strengthens the professional competence of law enforcement officials across Europe.

The EU-STNA serves as a strategic reference point for EU-level capacity building under the European Agenda on Security, ProtectEU and the EMPACT framework. It also supports the implementation of the LETs, promoting a shared European LE culture and the interoperability of skills. The process is closely aligned with the EU’s broader policy landscape, including Council Conclusions on internal security, the use of artificial intelligence in law enforcement, the fight against organised crime, and the response to hybrid and technology-driven threats. By providing a structured and evidence-based mechanism for collective prioritisation, the EU-STNA ensures that European LE training remains coherent, forward-looking, and responsive to evolving security challenges.

In a context where crime evolves faster than institutional adaptation cycles, maintaining up-to-date competencies, ensuring cross-border interoperability, and applying advanced investigative tools have become fundamental to safeguarding European internal security. The EU-STNA process was established to provide a systematic, evidence-based mechanism for identifying the most central EU-level training needs across Member States and for ensuring that training resources are directed where they generate the greatest added value. Launched as a pilot in 2017, the EU-STNA has since evolved through the 2018–2021 and 2022–2025 cycles into a regular, multi-stakeholder exercise combining desk research, expert consultation, Member State prioritisation, and coordination with EU-level training providers. It plays a central role in enhancing complementarity among EU training actors, preventing overlap, and fostering a coherent European law enforcement learning space. The 2026–2029 cycle continues this evolution, applying methodological refinements introduced in earlier cycles and integrating forward-looking elements, consolidating the process as a permanent component of the EU’s internal security architecture.