Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. Second report on the implementation of the EU internal security strategy

The EU’s Internal Security Strategy (ISS) is designed to enable Europe to respond to existing challenges and emerging threats, according to a shared approach that involves both EU actors and the national and local levels. Underpinning the strategy are the common values of respect for fundamental rights and the rule of law, solidarity and mutual support. The Commission will continue to ensure full respect of these values, in particular of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.

One of the major threats to our internal security is organised crime and its detrimental effects on the economy of the EU, including distortions in the internal market. As an example, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that criminal proceeds are likely to have amounted to some 3.6% of global GDP or around $2.1 trillion in 2009. Corruption, fraud and smuggling lead to huge losses for the governments of the EU Member States at a time when the need for a stable revenue and tax base is essential to tackle their public deficits. To go after the money, and reclaim the proceeds of crime, continues to be a key aim of the EU’s strategy for disrupting organised criminal networks.

The Commission has already introduced initiatives and instruments to achieve this goal, such as the Directive on the freezing and confiscation of the proceeds of crime in the European Union, the Fourth Anti Money Laundering Directive, and the Directive on the protection of the financial interests of the EU.

The administrative approach, providing opportunities for detecting and responding to criminal infiltration of the economy, also supports the aim of redressing imbalances caused among other things by organised crime and creating the conditions for the internal market to flourish. The recent establishment at Europol of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) is designed to strengthen Europe’s capability to protect citizens, businesses and governments and their infrastructure from cyber-attacks that can cause staggering economic losses.

The ISS is based on five strategic objectives, namely disrupting international crime networks, preventing terrorism, enhancing cybersecurity, strengthening border security and increasing resilience to crises and disasters. In the 2011 ISS implementation report, the fight against organised crime and cybercrime were identified as two main challenges to be addressed in the coming year. A lot has since been done, together with actions under the other objectives of the strategy.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)179: Follow the progress of this communication through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:179:FIN

ESO: Background information: Internal security: What progress has been made? http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-internal-security-what-progress-has-been-made/

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