2003 discharge: Eurojust

PURPOSE : presentation of the financial statements and balance sheets of Eurojust for the financial year 2003.

CONTENT : this report presented by Eurojust presents the financial statements and balance sheets of its activities in 2003 which was its first complete financial year since its creation on 28 February 2002 by Council Decision 2002/187/JHA.

The resources made available to Eurojust entered under the final budget for the financial year 2003 amount to EUR 8 million funded in full from the annual subsidy from the General budget of the European Communities.

As regards the issue of staffing of the headquarters in the Hague (Netherlands), Eurojust states that 53 posted are listed in the establishment plan but only 28 are occupied plus 15 other posts (auxiliary contracts, seconded national experts, local staff, employment - agency staff). Therefore, there is effectively a total of 43 posts carrying out operational tasks administrative tasks and mixed tasks.

Eurojust's main task is essentially to organize cooperation between the various national legal systems. Eurojust acts through its national members or as a college on various priority issues.

It is in this context that Eurojust concentrates on 300 cases of bilateral or multilateral cooperation. They concern the following themes :

- fraud 22%;

- drug trafficking : 22%;

- terrorism : 6%;

- murder : 4%;

- smuggling : 3%;

- trafficking in human beings : 4%;

- money laundering : 8%;

- others : 31%.

Members met 26 times throughout the year 2003.