Benelux Secretary-General Jan van Laarhoven today presented Dutch
Minister of Security and Justice Ard van der Steur with the Benelux report ‘Tackling Crime Together’.
The progress
report is just one of the outcomes to emerge from the Benelux declaration of
intent on administrative measures to tackle organised crime, and a political
statement by the responsible ministers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
announcing joint action against outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in the
Meuse-Rhine Euroregion.
The report summarises how national administrative authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia) are tackling OMCGs and sets out the challenges they have encountered in the course of their cross-border cooperation and recommendations for further strengthening their cooperation.
The report summarises how national administrative authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia) are tackling OMCGs and sets out the challenges they have encountered in the course of their cross-border cooperation and recommendations for further strengthening their cooperation.
Administrative
measures to tackle crime focus on instruments already available to local and
other authorities that can be used in addition to those used by the police and
judicial authorities. The report will allow the EU to learn from the
experiences and the challenges encountered in cross-border administrative
action against OMCG-related crime in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion.
EU conference
The report was
presented during the EU’s ‘Working Apart Together’ conference, organised as
part of the Netherlands’ EU Presidency. The aim of the conference was to
strengthen the administrative approach to preventing and tackling crime, both
in individual member states and at EU level. The focus is on resolving problems
in cross-border information sharing, and the report highlights some of the
things being done to achieve these objectives.
Van der Steur
responded with enthusiasm. ‘The fight against organised crime doesn’t stop at
the border’, he said. ‘So, it is important to work together closely in an EU
context. This report provides useful tips on how to do this.’
Benelux report
The development of
the administrative approach to tackling organised crime is high on the Benelux
agenda. The Benelux report summarises the experiences, findings and conclusions
of the Benelux working group on this issue. The focus is on the administrative
measures used to tackle OMCG-related crime in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, a
practical cross-border test case. The region has seen an increase in violence
by OMCGs on both sides of the border.
The report sets
out the latest situation concerning administrative measures against these gangs
in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion. It provides building blocks for developing a
successful international administrative approach to motorcycle gangs. Besides
identifying individual countries’ potential and limitations as regards
administrative action against OMCGs, the report also considers the
opportunities for and problems associated with cross-border action taken by
administrative authorities.
Recommendations
The report
includes recommendations for the further development of the administrative
approach:
·
The provisions of
the Benelux treaty on police cooperation relating to administrative measures
should be amended and a cooperation agreement between key stakeholders in the
individual countries drawn up to facilitate faster information sharing for
administrative purposes in operational cross-border cases.
·
A pilot project
should be set up to establish an international information and expertise centre
in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion in order to roll out the administrative approach
to organised crime, in collaboration with national local authorities, police
services, judicial authorities and other stakeholders.
·
A cross-border
barrier model for tackling OMCG-related crime should be developed. (The barrier
model is a method of identifying what barriers partner organisations can impose
on criminal activities on the basis of existing instruments and legislation.
The partner best placed to prevent criminals abusing legal structures is
identified for each element.)
·
Results from the
Meuse-Rhine Euroregion can be used as examples for future EU activities to
further develop the administrative approach.
Documents
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