30 May 2018

PPO Hamburg and the special police unit ‘Black Block’ have been conducting investigations into a number of suspects allegedly involved in the G20 riots that occurred in July 2017 in Hamburg, especially in the Elbchaussee and the Sternschanze district. Eurojust supported the national judicial and law enforcement authorities from the beginning of the investigations by facilitating the cooperation.

On 29 May 2018, led by the German Desk, a coordination centre was set up at Eurojust’s premises to coordinate several house searches in Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland. Eurojust contributed to the success of this multinational action day by providing logistical and operational support to the countries involved.

For more information, please refer to the joint press release of the PPO and Police Hamburg in German (also available in pdf format), as well its English translation.

24 May 2018

Today, Eurojust welcomed the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security, Ferd Grapperhaus, and the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Ms Věra Jourová, for the final step in the inauguration of Eurojust’s new state of the art premises in the international zone in The Hague. The Minister and Commissioner were invited to unveil a statue in front of the building, offered to Eurojust by the Dutch government and created by Mr Fernando Sánchez Castillo.

The new Eurojust headquarters is a unique purpose-built facility, constructed and owned by the Dutch State and rented to Eurojust. The building can accommodate up to 400 employees and has been tailored to Eurojust’s mission to develop and enhance judicial cooperation, coordination and mutual trust in the European Union’s fight against serious organised cross-border crime.

‘This new building is the community of thousands of national prosecutors and law enforcement officials around the EU who – every day, everywhere in Europe – work hard to fight all forms of criminality, and call on Eurojust for support and guidance’, said Ladislav Hamran, the President of Eurojust. ‘And they all did so with one common goal: to ensure that justice and security are brought to Europe’s citizens.’

Mr Hamran went on to thank Minister Grapperhaus for the unwavering support of the Dutch government in creating an optimal work environment for more than 8 000 legal practitioners who visited Eurojust’s premises last year to look for answers, best practice and inspiration in the field of judicial cooperation. ‘Looking ahead to the many challenges to justice and security that the future is presenting us with, we know that our new headquarters offers a solid base from which we can deliver the quality of support that Member States and other stakeholders rightfully expect from us.’

Minister Grapperhaus said:  ‘The Netherlands is convinced that Eurojust is now perfectly equipped to fulfil its crucial role in the field of judicial cooperation within the EU for a long time to come. I would like to wish Eurojust and all those who work here the best of luck in exercising that role. The Netherlands remains keen to continue to support Eurojust to maintain its self-standing, complementary role next to the other JHA agencies and that it has adequate resources to do its important work.’

Commissioner Jourová said: ‘Eurojust plays a key role in the area of freedom security and justice. The increasing workload shows the clear added value of Eurojust, especially in cases which matter most to our citizens: terrorism, illegal migration and cybercrime, to name just a few. Eurojust can rely on the Commission’s support in its mission. I would like to warmly thank the President, Ladislav Hamran, the Vice Presidents and the President’s team for all the work undertaken in the last year to reform, streamline and revise the organisational structure of Eurojust to a solid, efficient and sustainable organisation that can thrive in its new premises.’

Photos © Eurojust

Background:
Eurojust is the European Union’s Judicial Cooperation Unit, established in 2002 to stimulate and improve the coordination of investigations and prosecutions and the cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States in relation to serious cross-border crime, particularly when it is organised. The main crime types dealt with by Eurojust are fraud, drug trafficking and money laundering. Eurojust has also stepped up its activities in fighting terrorism (87 cases in 2017, including the attacks in Berlin, Paris and Brussels), cybercrime, migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. In 2017, Eurojust handled 4 125 cases, including 2 698 new cases, an increase of more than 10 per cent compared to the previous year.

More information:
– Eurojust Annual report 2017
– Questions and answers on Eurojust

Infographics:
– Eurojust at work in 2017
– Eurojust coordinated operations in 2017
– 24 hour murder case (2017)
– Operation Santa Lucia (2017)
– European Investigation Order

The European Commission welcomes the provisional political agreement reached today by the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission proposal of March 2017 for a Directive to make Member States’ competition authorities even more effective enforcers of EU antitrust rules.

The Directive intends to further empower the national competition authorities by providing them with appropriate enforcement tools, to bring about a genuine common competition enforcement area.

Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, said: “EU antitrust rules make markets work better for European consumers and businesses, giving them more choice and better prices. Member States’ competition authorities and the Commission work together hand in hand to enforce these rules across the EU. This Directive will give national competition authorities effective tools and make sure they have the resources necessary to detect and sanction companies that break EU competition rules. It will also ensure that they can take their decisions in full independence, based on the facts and the law. I would like to thank the European Parliament – especially the Rapporteur Andreas Schwab and the shadow rapporteurs – and the Bulgarian, Estonian and Maltese Presidencies for their commendable work on this file.”

The new rules will make sure that national competition authorities will:

• Act independently when enforcing EU antitrust rules and work in a fully impartial manner;

• Have the necessary financial and human resources to do their work;

• Have all the powers needed to gather relevant evidence;

• Have adequate tools to impose proportionate and deterrent sanctions for breaches of EU antitrust rules; and

• Have coordinated leniency programmes which encourage companies to come forward with evidence of illegal cartels.

The legal text still needs to be formally approved by the European Parliament and Council, which is expected by the end of 2018.

Background

On 22 March 2017, the European Commission proposed new rules to enable Member States’ competition authorities to be more effective enforcers of EU antitrust rules. By ensuring that national competition authorities can act effectively, the Commission’s proposal aims to contribute to the objective of a genuine Single Market, promoting the overall goal of competitive markets, jobs and growth. This proposal followed a public consultation, which the Commission carried out between November 2015 and February 2016.

More information

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/ecn/index_en.html

[Check against delivery]

Ladies and gentlemen,

Throughout the preparations of the next EU budget, I have always argued that we need to invest in people.

Because that is what our times require:

• We need skilled people in Europe to create growth, to be competitive globally, to embrace digitisation.
• We need modern social protection systems. For new forms of work. For our ageing societies.
• And we also need to show solidarity with the vulnerable, with the most deprived, with migrants who have the right to stay. It is what makes us human.

That’s why I am very happy that the EU budget will make a very visible and substantial contribution to investment in people.

The European Social Fund, which has been up and running for 60 years, will be given an extra boost.

Worth more than 100 billion euro alone, the new European Social Fund Plus will lever and steer public and private investments in our Member States.

It will be more focused and result-oriented.

First of all, it will be more closely aligned to the European Semester, to help Member States implement their country specific recommendations in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Secondly, we ask Member States to allocate at least 25% of ESF+ funding, compared to 20% today, to measures that foster social inclusion and target those most in need.

And thirdly, we also ask Member States to earmark 10% of ESF+ funding to measures that support youth employment and especially inactive young people who need it even more.

We also foresee the necessary flexibility and simplification.

We also propose to modernise the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF).

The EGF will remain a flexible and special instrument outside the EU budget to respond to unforeseen circumstances. We are increasing the envelope from €150 million to €225 million a year.

We propose to broaden the scope of the future EGF and to lower the threshold of dismissed workers for a case to be eligible from 500 to 250.

And finally, the way the fund is used will also be streamlined to simplify and speed up the procedure.

Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude, our social funds are indispensable bricks in the new architecture of the EU budget.

To empower people. To make sure they can make the best out of our changing world of work.

But also to show solidarity and accompany those who need it most.

To build the competitive, sustainable and inclusive societies we want for our citizens. Thank you.

Dear colleagues,

Good afternoon,

From the first day, this Commission has promised to propose a budget which ‘protects, empowers and defends’. Today, we want to highlight some of the programmes that make that promise concrete.

As you know, the context of next Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations this time around is probably more difficult than ever before – if such a thing is even possible. With the UK leaving the EU, the income side had to be revisited, including through new own resources. With plenty of new challenges that need to be addressed, we also had to prioritise expenses.

The package we put forward today reflects the widely shared ambitions for a social and fair Europe, as highlighted at the Gothenburg social summit of November 2017. Concretely, it allows us to more effectively support progress on the European Pillar of Social Rights, which guides our policies in this field.

The priority is to invest in people, assure them Europe is on their side. If we get the new funding to match social needs more closely, the EU can make a real difference in empowering people to meet today’s challenges and prepare them for tomorrow.

That is the logic behind all of the proposals we present today.

We propose an integrated European Social Fund Plus to boost cohesion, to improve the employability and the skills of our labour force, and also to focus on those who need it most. We want to tighten the link with the European Semester, in order to support the pace of structural reforms in Member States, in full complementarity with the Reform Support Programme.

Besides, the new European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is our way of reacting to profound changes brought about by shifts and shocks in the global economy.

Commissioner Thyssen will explain more in detail what the changes imply for the ESF+ and the EGF.

We also propose a revamped Erasmus programme, our “classic”. With doubled funding, this programme will be even more effective to enable millions of young Europeans to study, train or learn abroad while broadening their experience and awareness of Europe, and increasing their future chances on the job market.

Investing in people also means focusing on culture, which also helps to address societal and economic challenges. The EU budget should therefore also promote common values and a sense of belonging to the EU.

The goal of the new Creative Europe programme is to strengthen and protect European cultural and linguistic diversity, cultural heritage and creativity, as well as the competitiveness of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors.

Commissioners Navracsics and Gabriel will elaborate on the proposals for Erasmus+ and Creative Europe in a moment.

Let me finish with a few words on the new Justice, Rights and Values Fund. Open, democratic and inclusive societies are at the heart of Europe’s identity.

With this fund we propose to invest €947 million over 7 years, while simplifying the existing programmes in this field. The Fund consists of two programmes: the Rights and Values programme (€642 million) and the Justice programme (€305 million).

The idea behind the latter is to further support the development of a European Area of Justice based on the rule of law and mutual trust. It will support, for instance, judicial training or mutual learning programmes, and the use of Information and Communication Technologies in our justice systems.

The Rights and Values programme is focussed on protecting and promoting rights and values as enshrined in the EU Treaties. This includes supporting civil society organisations and NGO’s.

At a time where we are confronted with extremism, radicalism and societal divisions, it is even more important to stand up for our common EU values, and to ensure people can truly enjoy their rights in our Union.

With that, I now pass the floor to Marianne.