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Eurojust (also spelled capitalised as EUROJUST) is an agency of the European Union (EU) dealing with judicial co-operation.
It is composed of national prosecutors, magistrates or police officers of equivalent competence from each of the EU states. Its task is to enhance the effectiveness of the national authorities when they are dealing with the investigation and prosecution of cross-border and organised crime, whereas those investigations do not involve members of governments or political parties. [1]
History
Eurojust was established as a result of a decision that the European Council of Tampere (15-16 October 1999) made a decision to establish a permanent judicial co-operation Unit called Eurojust in order to improve the fight against serious crime.
In 2000-12-14, the Council of the European Union formally established a provisional judicial co-operation Unit with the name of Pro-Eurojust to be Eurojust's forerunner. Its purpose was to be a sort of round table of prosecutors from all member states to enable concepts of Eurojust to be tried and tested. Pro-Eurojust started work on 2001-03-01 and Eurojust itself was established in 2002.
Future
In 2007 the European Commission proposed legislation for increasing the powers of Eurojust. The proposals include the harmonisation of the powers held by the national representatives, which currently vary, with a minimum set of powers and a minimum three year long renewable term to increase continuity. Members would also have automatic access to national databases, terrorist cases, and criminal, DNA and prison records. In 2009, it was announced that the Vatican might join Eurojust.
This is to ensure states co-operate with Eurojust and to deal with the increasing number of cases under its remit: cross border crime saw a 29% increase between 2006 and 2007. Eurojust is seen as the future of any future European Public Prosecutor's office, the creation of which is provided for under the Lisbon Treaty.[2]
External links
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