The exporting of EU organized crime approaches in the context of the External Dimension of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

Since the external dimension of the European Union (EU)’s Justice and Home Affairs started to be considered, quite a lot of literature has been dedicated to discussing how the EU is cooperating with non- member states in order to counter problems such as terrorism, organized crime and illegal migration. According to the EU, the degree of security interconnectedness has become so relevant that threats can only be effectively controlled if there is actual concerted regional action. This reasoning has led the EU to develop a number of instruments, which have resulted in the exporting of certain elements of its Justice and Home Affairs policies, either through negotiation or socialization. Although the literature has explored how this transfer has been applied to the field of terrorism and immigration, very little has been written on the externalization of knowledge, practices and norms in the area of organized crime. Bearing this in mind, I would like to focus this paper on the exporting of EU organized crime approaches, in the context of the expanding external dimension of Justice and Home Affairs. In order to achieve this aim, I propose to develop a comparative analysis of 3 agreements signed between Europol and third States. These findings will be used to complement existing knowledge on how the EU is disseminating its understanding, and consequently its practices, on organized crime abroad.