EU - ett medel i kampen mot organiserad brottslighet : En fallstudie av hur EU bekämpar organiserad brottslighet i Italien

Sammanfattning: During the past few years cooperation between the EU member states has expanded considerably in areas such as justice and homeland affairs. International cooperation in criminal justice has become more important as borders between EU countries has been lifted and because of this, various criminal groups have also had more opportunities to commit crimes cross borders. The Italian mafia groups in particularly have been operating in almost every country in Europe and have exploited the possibilities offered by the EU. The increase of organized crime in Europe has created a demand for EU to step up their actions against the organized crime. The purpose of this essay is to investigate exactly how the significant EU is has been in battling organized crime in Italy. The study is a case study based on the work importance of the EU in the fight against organized crime in Italy. The main research questions of the paper are: How does the Italian government work to fight organized crime? How does the EU work to fight organized crime?Italian government use the EU to fight organized crime in Italy? What does the EU do to fight organized crime in Italy? To what extent is this cooperation effective? This investigative report concludes that the EU has over the years established many different action plans, directives and organizations. All of which the Italian government has chosen to implement. The result of this has been that Italy’s opportunities to battle organized crime has improved and they are today seen as a role model for the other member states on how to battle organized crime in cooperation with the EU.  the EU does not have much importance for Italy’s fight against organized crime. ToHowever, to be able to play a more important role the EU needs to establish clear guidelines and formal agreements on how to battle organized crime on an international level.