Crime-fighters trail European gangs

Date: 23/01/1997

By Mark Turner

TOP-RANKING officials in a group set up by EU leaders to examine the growing problem of organised crime have identified a list of areas where Union crime-fighters are falling behind their underworld counterparts.

Organised gangs are more flexible, more international, more independent from outside concerns and (in some cases) more firmly controlled from within than the governments which aim to curb them, the group will warn justice ministers next month.

EU leaders called for an in-depth examination of the problem at their December summit in Dublin, in response to criticism of the lack of Union-wide action to combat rising international crime.

Officials in the high-level group argue that not enough is being done to counter criminal gangs as a whole, rather than the particular offences they commit.

A confidential report on organised crime in the EU during 1995 found that not only was the number of foreign organisations at work increasing, but also that Union governments were still failing to coordinate their response.

“International criminals do not share member states' obsession with national sovereignty,” said one diplomat. “As a result, they move across borders with ease, leaving national police standing at the boundaries.”

Enhanced cooperation under the Schengen Convention and within the EU has gone some way towards tackling this, but not far enough, suggests the group.

When justice and home affairs ministers meet early next month at Noordwijk in the Netherlands, they will consider a wide-ranging discussion paper examining what the Union is already doing and where it should go from here.

The paper will suggest that while the EU is taking import- ant strides towards repressing criminal activity, it needs to focus far more on preventing it in the first place. It will recommend closer partnership between the private and public sectors, tighter controls against fraud and the establishment of professional codes of conduct.

The group also believes that more needs to be learned about the way the gangs are organised as well as their specific activities.

“What we are seeing now is a clear determination amongst member states to approach organised crime comprehensively and systematically,” said one diplomat. “There are common trends in Europe that we can all tackle together.”