During 2002, the key foundation stones were laid to establish the EU judicial co-operation unit envisaged by the European Council at Tampere in 1999.

A good deal has been achieved in the last twelve months. The Decision was concluded and work completed to obtain a budget. Lengthy negotiations were also completed to secure appropriate facilities and move to new accommodation in The Hague. Another milestone was the appointment of an Administrative Director and arrangements to establish an administrative infrastructure.

Operational casework activity and meetings continued to be held during 2002, but considerable emphasis during this period was on providing the means to allow Eurojust to become operational. Nonetheless, a large number of cases were referred to the unit and a wide range of assistance was given to improve co-operation and co-ordination and resolve problems for investigators and prosecutors in Member States. Additionally, significant progress was made to establish networks amongst practitioners dealing with several types of serious crime. Eurojust has become recognised as a tool to assist investigators and prosecutors to deal with the problems encountered when handling serious and organised cross-border crime in the EU.

For the future, the College urges Ministers and legislators to empower their Eurojust members urgently so they are able to act in accordance with the provisions of the Decision. For Eurojust to be fully effective more progress must also be made to ensure that within Member States internal blockages are removed to allow the various domestic competent authorities to exchange information with Eurojust and refer cases to the unit easily and without hindrance.

There is much work to be done in the future by Eurojust but these recommendations are vital to the unit’s future success.