Union européenneHidden from public view due to the opaque nature of its activities, organised crime is a significant threat to European citizens, business, and state institutions, as well as to the economy as a whole. As highlighted in the latest European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (2021 EU SOCTA), organised crime groups are present across all Member States. The organised crime landscape is characterised by a networked environment where cooperation between criminals is fluid, systematic and driven by a profit-oriented focus. Organised crime groups use their large illegal profits to infiltrate the licit economy and public institutions, including via corruption, eroding the rule of law and fundamental rights and undermining people’s right to safety as well as their trust in public authorities. Criminal revenues in the nine main criminal markets in the European Union amounted to €139 billion in 2019, corresponding to 1% of the Union’s Gross Domestic Product. As underlined in the Security Union Strategy, action taken at EU level to support Member States in the fight against organised crime must be continued and enhanced.
The complexity of the business model of organised crime groups was, in particular, exposed in 2020 in the joint investigation, led by French and Dutch authorities with the support of Europol and Eurojust, to dismantle EncroChat, an encrypted phone network widely used by criminal networks. The EncroChat case has so far led to more than 1,800 arrests and more than 1,500 new investigations. In addition, it displayed the extent to which organised crime groups operate transnationally and online across all criminal markets in a networked environment, using increasingly sophisticated modi operandi and new technologies. In March 2021, another joint operation following the cracking of Sky ECC, an encrypted network to which many former EncroChat users had migrated, led to the prevention of more than 70 violent incidents, the seizure of more than 28 tons of drug substances and the arrest of more than 80 suspects involved in organised crime and drugs trafficking in Belgium and the Netherlands. More than 400 new investigations against high risk organised crime groups have been initiated.
The use of violence by criminals involved in organised crime is on the rise in the EU, as is the threat from violent incidents due to the frequent use of firearms or explosives in public spaces. The agility of organised crime groups to adapt to and capitalise on the changes in the environment where they operate was confirmed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Criminal groups have exploited the pandemic to expand online crime activities and to engage in fraud including in counterfeit medical products. The sustained high demand for Covid-19 vaccines makes for an attractive pursuit for criminals seeking to engage in the production and supply of counterfeit vaccines or in fraud schemes targeting individuals or public authorities. EU governments have so far detected attempts of scams and fake offers by fraudsters trying to sell over 1.1 billion vaccine doses for a total price of over €15.4 billion. The economic crisis resulting from the pandemic increases the risks of organised crime activities and that these further infiltrate society and the economy.
The transnational threats and evolving modi operandi of organised crime groups operating offline and online call for a coordinated, more targeted and adapted response. While national authorities operating on the ground are on the frontline in the fight against organised crime, action at Union level and global partnerships are paramount to ensure effective cooperation as well as information and knowledge exchange among national authorities, supported by a common criminal law framework and effective financial means. Furthermore, organised crime is emblematic of the link between internal and external security. International engagement on countering organised crime, including further steps to develop partnerships and cooperation with countries in the immediate neighbourhood and beyond, is needed to address this transnational challenge.
Both the European Parliament and the Council have stressed that organised crime causes enormous damage and highlighted the importance of strong EU action to counter all forms of organised criminal activity.
This Strategy builds on past achievements, identifies priority work strands to better protect citizens and the economy from organised crime groups and puts forward concrete medium and long-term actions, which will be developed in full respect of fundamental rights. It constitutes the first dedicated Strategy on organised crime since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.
