The 1st session of the CrimEx Experts Group created under the EU-funded EuroMed Justice IV Project to enhance criminal cooperation and international judicial cooperation took place in Madrid, Spain on 14-16 March 2017, and was attended by members from 6 South Partner Countries, i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority and Tunisia – Lebanon and Jordan being still in the selection process.

The session benefitted from the presence and active collaboration of experts and EU prosecutors from Eurojust, the European Judicial Network in criminal matters (EJN) and the UN-CTED (United Nation’s Counter Terrorism Directorate), as well as EuroMed Police, which are main stakeholders of this EuroMed Justice phase.

In order to promote a holistic and coordinated national response to transnational crime and terrorism, the Project Team envisages to create, in cooperation with/or centred around the CrimEx Contact Points or CrimEx Members, national platforms/mechanisms to facilitate strategic and operational development, information sharing and other coordination among the range of national actors involved in activities that contribute to fighting crime.

CrimEx will initiate the debates on the international and national frameworks on judicial and law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters, focusing on the practical matters and its various forms: extradition, mutual legal assistance (MLA), the transfer of proceedings, the gathering of evidence, the recognition and the execution of foreign decisions.

The final output will be the elaboration of a Handbook on Gaps and Legal Analysis in the Southern Partner Countries, as regards investigation and prosecution of complex judicial cases, and updating the existing EuroMed Fiches.

Over two years (2017-2018) and during eight sessions, CrimEx will function as a real think-tank and a regional forum of cooperation, being key in setting up a mechanism of judicial and law enforcement cooperation among the EU and its South Partner Countries.

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Press release

EuroMed Justice website