The Eastern Partnership (EaP) project: strengthening joint law enforcement operations with EaP countries to make Europe safer

The EU’s internal and external security are increasingly intertwined. Cooperation with third countries, including Eastern Partnership partners, is therefore essential to enhancing EU’s security and the safety of EU citizens. Various EU policies and frameworks underline the importance of closer cooperation with external partners, including the European internal security strategy and the new EU’s strategic approach to the Black Sea.

As part of the Eastern Partnership project funded by the European Commission, Europol supported specific actions led by law enforcement agencies from EU Member States in cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine). Between 2021 and 2024, the project funded 23 actions involving 18 EU Member States and four EaP countries. Most of these actions either launched new investigations or strengthened ongoing existing cross-border operations against the most serious forms of organised crime affecting European citizens’ security.

For instance, in response to the significant threat posed by drug trafficking across the EU, the project supported two major operations. One involved nine countries and led to the seizure of cocaine, marijuana, and amphetamines among other illicit goods. The other resulted in the dismantling of a major synthetic drug laboratory network in Latvia.

The project also played an important role in operations against organised criminal groups responsible for producing illicit cigarettes in France, committing burglaries and robberies in Austria, smuggling migrants in Eastern Europe, selling firearms on the Darknet, or conducting cyberattacks against EU citizens.

The detection of 36 million illicit cigarettes, 2360 kg of tobacco, 160,000 litres of alcohol as well as the seizure of EUR 186 million worth of counterfeit and substandard food and beverages across two operations in 2024 and 2025 constitute other operational successes that benefited from the project’s support and seeking to protect the health of European consumers.

As part of the second phase of the project (2025 – 2028), Europol continues to support joint EU-EaP operations. This includes providing additional assistance to ongoing cases and supporting new operational work targeting emerging organised crime threats identified by national law enforcement agencies and Europol.

Europol further strengthens EU-EaP law enforcement cooperation by involving EaP officers in relevant meetings and events at Europol HQ in The Hague. Since 2021, the project funded the participation of EaP officers to more than 50 meetings and events, including operational meetings on ongoing cases, EMPACT meetings, Europol conferences and other initiatives such as the Victim Identification Task Force, which seeks to identify victims of child sexual abuse and track down perpetrators.