Dear readers, With the support of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the Hungarian government, under its six-month Presidency of the European Union, hosted a conference in March 2011 on “Protecting Victims in the EU: the Road Ahead.” The conference coincided with the ten-year anniversary of Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA on the standing of victims in criminal proceedings, a decade that has seen legislative developments for victims “on paper” but which has suffered from a lack of concrete action for victims in practice in a number of EU Member States. As research by the FRA on vulnerable victim… Read more

Dear Readers, One of the fastest growing needs in information management for global networks is cybersecurity and its related policies. The leading role of information technology and the growth of e-commerce have made cybersecurity essential to the economy and the operation of infrastructure systems. In the past year, the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has been actively strengthening bridges with fellow EU agencies that are part of its “Justice, Freedom and Security” cluster. With its mission to protect information, ENISA has been called upon to provide insight, expert advice, and guidance to its fellow agencies in order to… Read more

Dear Readers, On the eve of 2011, eucrim can look forward to celebrating its fifth anniversary: the first issue was published in 2006. The idea for the creation of eucrim came about in 2003 at the Strafrechtslehrertagung, the regular meeting of law professors in the German-speaking world, where the development of European criminal law was discussed. During these deliberations, remarks highly critical of Europeanisation but supported by incomplete and misleading information were made, and participants complained about a lack of information in the field of European criminal law. To improve this unsatisfactory situation, I proposed in the discussion that the… Read more

Dear Readers, Aled Williams I am delighted to introduce this issue of eucrim, which is devoted to the external dimension of EU criminal justice. The importance of the topic is clear. A young woman stands on a street corner in an industrial town somewhere in the EU. She has been trafficked into the Union from a thousand kilometres outside its borders for sexual exploitation. She has a drug habit which feeds on cocaine shipped halfway across the world. Her exploiters channel the profits from her virtual slavery (and that of many others) through financial transactions that span the globe, corrupting… Read more

Dear Readers, The decision by the eucrim editors to dedicate this entire issue to data protection confirms that data protection is increasingly relevant and also at the heart of European criminal law. An area of freedom, security and justice without internal borders can only exist if the national police and judicial authorities are able to exchange information as needed to fulfil their tasks. The use and exchange of information relating to persons also requires a solid and consistent system of data protection, not least because of technological developments. The term “surveillance society” is often used as a metaphor for a… Read more

Dear Readers, The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force at the end of 2009, mandates the Union to establish a true European area of justice reinforcing mutual trust and enabling mutual recognition of Member States’ judicial decisions. This will require, among other considerations, elements as diverse as the strengthening of Eurojust, the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the reform of the European Anti Fraud Office (Office Européen de la Lutte Anti-Fraude − OLAF), and common minimum standards in the justice process (such as fair trial rights, fair prison conditions, and rights for victims of crime). At the… Read more