30 April 2021
 

Euromed Police brought together Southern partner countries, EU Member States, EU institutions and agencies, providing a joint platform for guidance and endorsement of the project activities.

The EU-funded Euromed Police project, coordinated by the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) and supported by the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), recently held its first Strategic Cooperation Forum. The online event saw the participation of senior decision-makers from the EU Southern Neighbourhood, AFRIPOL, and the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council as well as representatives from the EU Member States, the European Commission, and other partner organisations.

The forum connected the previous and current project phases, introducing the new project team to the Euromed Police community and provided an opportunity for the delegates to present strategic crime priorities and training needs in the framework of the project. Cybercrime, document fraud, drug trafficking, criminal finances, analysis and technical support were listed among the training needs to be addressed, including train the trainers activities. The highlighted crime areas confirmed the pertinence of the project’s approach based on capacity building and analytical work especially regarding the drafting of a new threat assessment report. The priority areas were reflected equally in the preliminary outcome of the Operational Training Needs Assessment (OTNA), to be validated by the Capacity Building Single Points of Contact (CAPASPOCs) of the partner countries.

During the meeting, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Spain provided an overview of their ongoing cooperation with the partners in the MENA region and presented their experience in the previous phases of the programme. The delegates underlined the project’s important role as facilitator in enhancing cooperation between EU Member States and the Southern Partner countries, reiterating their continuous support for the project.

Finally, participants stressed the importance of this strategic partnership in combating serious and organised crime, underlining the cooperation between the EU and its Southern neighbours as key.

About EUROMED Police

The EUROMED Police project aims at enhancing the capacity of the Southern Partner Countries to fight serious and organised crime and to strengthen strategic cooperation between national law enforcement authorities in Southern Partner countries, as well as between Southern Partner countries, EU Member States and EU Agencies. The European Union committed EUR 7 million to the initiative for a period of 4 years. Find out more about the EUROMED Police project here.

For more detailed information see: https://www.cepol.europa.eu/media/news