East Midlands MEP calls for a European FBI

12.01.00am GMT Sat 9th Dec 2006

Bill Newton Dunn, Lib Dem MEP for the East Midlands, in conjunction with the European Movement, publishes a paper which calls for the establishment of a European Federal Police Organisation to fight against organised crime in Europe. He wants to develop Europol into a European-wide police force to fight international organised crime gangs across borders.

Bill says,

Cross border crime is huge. It is growing. It is organised. If it were a country it would be the fourth largest economy in the world. It rears its ugly head in many forms: drug trafficking, identity theft, VAT theft, counterfeit currency, fake goods and medicines, people trafficking, money laundering, to name but some. Our national border controls don't work.

The public in Britain and Europe know too little about how international organised crime affects them and that European Governments are not successful in fighting cross-border organised crime. Criminals cross internal EU borders freely but our national police forces can only act within their national borders. Their efforts against organised crime are thus severely limited.

The solution is to create a cross-border EU police force - a kind of FBI for Europe.