Prevention of crime: European network. Initiative France and Sweden

In an explantory note annexed to the draft Council Decision on the setting up of a European crime prevention network, the French and Swedish delegations (who intially presented the Initiative), specify the context in which this intiative and its main objectives are laid down. Firstly, the document states that the draft Convention presented in the framework of the Tampere European Council conclusions on the progressive implementation of a area of freedom, security and justice within which the fight against crime, in particular, organised crime, shall be considered as a definite priority. In this context, the draft Convention concerns the need for the European Union to have an appropriate framework for gathering, analysing and disseminating information both interinstitutionally and among the Member States. It calls specifically for the creation of a European Union-level network to be established to develop cooperation on crime prevention. The role of the network, its responsibilities and powers must be specified by the Council. The purpose of the European crime prevention network is to encourage Member States to cooperate in preventing all types of crime. It will enable authorities to exchange best practice, compare experiences, gather and disseminate information, statistics, studies and research relating to crime prevention and train crime-prevention staff. The network will bring together crime-prevention experts from the various sectors concerned, national authorities, local authorities, research bodies and those working in the field. Their role will be to amass knowledge about crime prevention, make it accessible, carry out comparative analyses that can be fed into the discussion process and are relevant for action, in particular by providing the decision-makers with the knowledge acquired. Moreover, the network is designed to deal with all types of crime. However, it will pay particular attention to the three priorities set by the Tampere European Council (juvenile, urban and drug-related crime). Lastly, this Initiative is based on Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union. It should also be noted that the draft Decision proposes funding from the European Union budget.�