The Overall Objective is to contribute to the achievement of the obligations stemming from Chapter 24 Justice, Freedom and Security, in line with the EU acquis. The Specific Objective of the Action is to support the achievement of Serbia"s negotiation interim benchmarks, in particular the ones leading to improved capacities to fight serious and organised crime.
The components of the Action are: strengthening professional skills and capacities to fight serious and organised crime and enhancing operational capacities to fight serious and organised crime. The main output should be the increasing effectiveness of the criminal legal framework including both the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code as well as the Law on Organisation and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in Suppression of Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption, in particular concerning the competence of the Organised Crime Prosecution Office.
Furthermore, it also aims to provide the support to the Criminal Police Directorate and its subordinated units by enhancing professional skills, improving operational tools and operational capability, and introduction and adjustment of the organisational structure for the implementation and development of the intelligence-led policing and national criminal intelligence System within the Serbian Police and step up cooperation and operative information/intelligence exchange among specialized services through an interconnected IT system.
Main EU Member States’ public institutions supporting the projects come from Lithuania, Spain and Italy.
This component is part of the bigger project "EU for the Rule of Law", launched by the EU Delegation to Serbia in 2022. It is a new package of support to the Rule of Law Sector, part of the IPA Programme for Serbia, for a total amount of 20.8 million euros.
Such support aims at accompanying Serbia in meeting the Interim Benchmarks under Chapters 23 and 24 in the coming years.
The programme will be ongoing until 2025.