Dear reader,

Welcome to this year’s third quarterly newsletter, which will take us back to what happened at Eurojust in the past few months while at the same time casting a forward look to events and meetings that lie ahead. Writing this introduction on the eve of the Consultative Forum at Eurojust (14-15 October), it is clear that autumn announces itself as a busy season and I invite everyone to be part of it.

On 14 and 15 October, the Prosecutors General and directors of public prosecutions from the European Union for the first time in two years gathered at Eurojust, for their 15th Consultative Forum. The digitalisation of justice and cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office were the main themes of the event.

The meeting ‘Securing the EU beyond its borders: JITs with non-EU countries. New trends, challenges and opportunities’, hosted by Eurojust on 13 and 14 October, discussed recurring issues, best practices and the way forward concerning JITs with the involvement of third countries.

On 8 September, 180 participants from EU Member States and several third countries joined Eurojust’s webinar ‘Prosecuting with EMPACT’. Presenters from Eurojust, Europol and DG HOME took the floor to show various aspects of the EU flagship instrument for cooperation to fight organised and serious international crime. The event highlighted the added value of the EU policy cycle in cross-border criminal investigations and prosecutions, demonstrating opportunities for prosecutors to work with the framework. The recording of the webinar is available as a playlist on the Eurojust YouTube channel.

A joint investigation team (JIT) between the Dutch and German authorities has taken down an organised crime group specialised in explosive attacks on Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs). A total of nine suspects have been taken into custody as a result of this 18-month investigation coordinated by Europol and Eurojust.

In the early hours of 4 September, coordinated simultaneous actions in Basilicata (Italy) and in the Republic of Moldova resulted in the takedown of a criminal human trafficking network, saving nearly 90 victims from severe labour exploitation under horrid conditions.

An online scam involving the sale of protective materials against COVID-19, such as facemasks, has been halted with the support of Eurojust. During a joint action day conducted on 10 August, 34 searches took place across Romania, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Eurojust has assisted the Greek and Bulgarian authorities to halt an international criminal network involved in migrant smuggling within Greece. During an action day, coordinated by the Agency, 11 suspects were arrested, who organised the transport of irregular migrants from the Greek-Turkish land border in Evros to the Thessaloniki region in the north of Greece.

The Spanish and Serbian authorities have dismantled a large-scale drug trafficking network, through a joint investigation team (JIT) with the active support of Eurojust. Across both countries, a total of 43 members of a Serbian organised crime group (OCG) have been arrested.

Eurojust has ensured rapid judicial cooperation between the Swedish and Spanish authorities for the immediate arrest of a murder suspect. Through on-call coordination via the Agency, the Spanish authorities were able to arrest the suspect practically immediately after a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was issued in Sweden.

Eurojust has supported the Italian authorities in bringing to a halt a long-running fraud scheme based on a series of fake websites and shell companies to evade tax authorities for an estimated EUR 120 million and cheat thousands of customers.

France’s Minister for Justice, Mr Éric Dupond-Moretti, visited Eurojust to discuss the role of Eurojust in the fight against cross-border crime. He also discussed the upcoming French Presidency of the Council of the European Union with Eurojust President Mr Ladislav Hamran.

Establishing access for Eurojust to eu-LISA’s new large-scale IT system ECRIS-TCN, as well as the Interoperability architecture that will strengthen the Justice and Home Affairs domain, is the foundation of the three-year Cooperation Plan signed by eu-LISA Executive Director Krum Garkov and Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran.

The CrimEx expert group in criminal matters has decided to set up a series of six key tools for judicial and law enforcement cooperation with the South Partner Countries participating in the EuroMed Justice (EMJ) programme.

Mr Philip Mirrer-Singer has started as new Liaison Prosecutor (LP) for the United States at Eurojust. He replaces Ms Rachel Miller Yasser, who was appointed in August 2019. Concurrent with his duties as Liaison Prosecutor, Mr Mirrer-Singer will serve as Trial Attorney at the United States Department of Justice.

The Parliamentary State Secretary of Justice at the German Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Mr Christian Lange, today paid his third visit to Eurojust since 2015. During the meeting, he took stock of the latest developments and discussed the outlook for the future development of Eurojust.