Euromed Police held its 4th High-Level Meeting last month at Europol headquarters in the Hague, Holland, in conjunction with the European Police Chiefs Convention. High-Level Meetings are an opportunity for South Partner Countries (SPC), EU member states and institutional stakeholders (such as the European Commission, the agencies or the Council of the EU) to convene and discuss the overall activity and main lines of the project. Around the central session, the event offered opportunities for bilateral meetings among EU and SPC delegations.

 

This year, the agenda reflected the current context of Euromed Police. As the project is currently nearing its end, the objectives, results and lessons of phase IV were discussed, with particular attention to the Euromed Threat Assessment, the final version of which was released in September.

 

The institutional leadership of the project will evolve in the transition towards the next phase. CEPOL will take up leadership of Euromed Police, taking control of and expanding the scope of the project’s various capacity-building activities. Europol will take the lead in managing the analytical work of the project, including the Euromed Threat Forum. Europol emphasized its ability to improve criminal analysis and promote cooperation with the Southern Partners, reaffirming its continued commitment to the project.

 

The aim of the Euromed Police IV project is to increase citizens’ security across the Euro-Mediterranean area through the strengthening of cooperation on security issues between the Southern Mediterranean partner countries, as well as between these countries and the EU Member States. It builds on the achievements of the previous phases of the project. The project runs from 2016-2020 with a budget of €5 million.