Yesterday, Ms Michèle Coninsx, President of Eurojust, attended a hearing of the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament to discuss the work and ongoing activities of Eurojust in the area of judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
The President stressed the importance of a strong, cooperative and consistent EU judicial response when facing the unprecedented security threat to European citizens from terrorism and cybercrime, and the human tragedies caused by illegal immigrant smuggling. Ms Coninsx underlined the need to strengthen judicial cooperation with third States and informed the LIBE Committee members about Eurojust’s efforts to further enlarge its judicial contact point network beyond the EU’s borders.
Eurojust’s caseload increases each year by an average of 20 per cent with Eurojust’s assistance requested by the Member States in 2 214 cases in 2015. This steady upward trend applies also to the use of Eurojust’s judicial coordination tools, confirming that Eurojust’s support to national authorities in the investigation and prosecution of serious cross-border crime is needed and of added value.
Ms Coninsx emphasized the results achieved with Eurojust’s coordination meetings, coordination centres and support to joint investigation teams and called on the European Parliament to continue supporting Eurojust to meet the increasing demands and expectations from the Member States for judicial cooperation at EU level.
Ms Coninsx said: ‘Eurojust is a demand-driven organisation. The steady increase in the number of cases, 2.214 in 2015, particularly cases dealing with terrorism, illegal immigrant smuggling and cybercrime, means that Eurojust’s services are needed, recognised, and valued by the Member States. Doing more with less is extremely difficult. Eurojust is an integral, concrete and vital part of the security chain of key players. We cannot afford budgetary cuts in times of serious threat.’
