Luxembourg Exchange with Europol, Eurojust Emphasises Cross-Border Information Sharing

On Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 June 2024, Luxembourg’s Minister for Home Affairs, Léon Gloden, and the Minister of Justice, Elisabeth Margue, met with Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), in The Hague, Netherlands.

Subsequently, the two ministers visited the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) for an exchange with the President of the agency, Ladislav Hamran.

Luxembourg’s Ministry for Home Affairs and the Ministry of Justice added that, in a world where criminals are “highly organised, operate across borders and use technology to their advantage”, the ministers visited Europol and Eurojust for an exchange on the activities and expertise of the two agencies. The ministers expressed their support for these essential partners for Luxembourg in the fight against crime.

The discussions with the Executive Director of Europol focused in particular on the benefits of the exchange of information between police authorities. A Schengen area without internal border controls presupposes close cooperation, which translates on the one hand into operational cooperation and on the other hand into a strengthened exchange of information, the ministries noted. Minister Gloden reiterated his commitment to developing and strengthening police resources at the national level in order not only to become a reliable intermediary but also to be able to benefit fully from the operational impact that will result. He noted that solid milestones had already been laid to this end. Minister Margue stressed the crucial importance of an efficient and rapid exchange of information at the transnational level between judicial and police authorities to meet the challenges posed by organised crime.

Ministers Gloden and Margue were finally able to speak with the Luxembourg liaison officers based at Europol and the national member of Eurojust, who gave them an in-depth view of the cooperation opportunities that the countries benefit from thanks to the two agencies.