Countering serious crime in the Western Balkans

Project description

The overall objective of the jointly co-financed Action of the European Commission and the Federal German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (EU/BMZ) (hereafter referred to as “Action”) is to improve the overall security in the Western Balkans and the EU by combatting organized crime and terrorism.

The specific objective of the Action is to raise the effectiveness of and cooperation among regional and national capacities in tackling occurring forms of Serious and  Organized Crime that have been impacting the Western Balkans region and Europe as a whole, including the recovery of illegal financial gains obtained through diverse types of cross-border crime and the fight against illegal migrant smuggling.

The purpose of the project proposal of CILC is to work together with GIZ in achieving the objectives of the Action.

The total Action is divided in 6 areas of intervention and will produce 8 mandatory results. The CILC part will focus on 3 areas of intervention and 4 results:

Area of intervention I: Mentoring and Operational Support to cross-border investigations and prosecutions.

Result 1: Strengthened operational capacities and capabilities of respective law enforcement units to conduct cross-border investigations and prosecutions on SOC, especially to undertake financial investigations and to fight illegal migrant smuggling.

Result 2: Improved effectiveness of respective law enforcement units on investigations and prosecutions through more efficient cooperation with relevant European and regional authorities and the use of regional instruments, particularly EUROPOL, Interpol, PCC SEE and EUROJUST.

Area of intervention II: Legislative and Organizational Advice for an efficient judicial and police cooperation.

Result 3: Increased efforts to improve legislation and regulations for cross-border police and judicial cooperation.

Under this result the focus of the CILC support will specifically be on the development of basic requirements in the beneficiaries for an effective asset recovery along national and international standards.

Area of intervention III: Intensified cooperation between the beneficiaries and Eurojust.

Result 5: Enhanced prerequisites for concluding or implementing Cooperation Agreements between beneficiary countries and Eurojust.

Source: website of the IPA2017 project ‘Countering Serious Crime in the Western Balkans’