In an interview with the newspaper De Limburger and Het Belang van Limburg, Rob Hutschemaekers (Head of EURIEC) and Gennard Stulens (Public Affairs Belgium) discussed the role of the EURIEC in the administrative approach to cross-border organised crime. Hutschemaekers explained, “The administrative approach is a valuable addition in preventing and fighting organised crime, but it’s still a relatively unexplored area across borders. An approach based exclusively on criminal prosecution is no longer sufficient. Governments have yet to realize this.”
What’s next for EURIEC?
“We have completed our Final Report and are further expanding our standard documents and manuals. We also want to inform as many governments as possible. We must ensure that the many possibilities that already exist are known everywhere. For this, we need to get to know everyone and create new structural partnerships. The 80 municipalities and cities that have called on us are a small number compared to the potential reach of hundreds of local governments that we could have. It is also important that legislators know how to make existing laws, with limited modifications, internationally applicable. Finally, new cross-border laws are of course needed, but that will take much more time,” explains Hutschemaekers.
You can download the full article from Het Belang van Limburg here. The article from De Limburger is available here.
