EU Policies to fight transnational organised crime in the Western Balkans

This paper argues that the EU must take a more robust line on policy implementation to combat transfrontier organised crime. It highlights the permeability of security. It analyses how crime structures created during the Balkan wars of the 1990s have survived and flourished in the post-conflict situations, why they are growing and how they function. It then evaluates the current EU strategy for fighting organised crime. It notes the problems of the proliferation of unviable states and argues that while police forces in the Balkans are the most important element in fighting organised crime directly at the grass-roots level, political and financial interests make them flawed. Multiple police forces are a major obstacle to progress. Attention focuses on drugs and human trafficking. The EU JHA strategies are criticised and suggestions for improvement made.

Lucia Montanaro-Jankovski, EU Policies to fight transnational organised crime in the Western Balkans, CEPS Policy Paper, Oct.2005

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