Today, the EMCDDA signed its first working arrangement with the European Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) in Budapest aimed at boosting learning and knowledge exchange in the area of security. The signatories were EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel and CEPOL Executive Director Montserrat Marín López.
The new accord aims to improve the agencies’ capacity to deliver training to the European law-enforcement community and reinforce the drug-related content of training curricula. The ultimate aim is to help reduce the supply of illicit drugs in Europe.
The working arrangement outlines a number of areas of cooperation, including the development of training products and tools and training activities delivered both inside and outside the EU (‘non-EU countries’). It also provides for the exchange of knowledge between the agencies, the dissemination of training and awareness-raising materials and the mutual provision of experts.
The two EU agencies have collaborated on training and capacity-building since 2008. Together, they have delivered joint training courses on topics such as drug markets and drug-related crime and the EU Early Warning System on new psychoactive substances.
CEPOL has contributed with its knowledge and network to the EMCDDA’s work on developing drug supply indicators, as set out in the Council Conclusions on improving the monitoring of drug supply in the European Union. It has also provided the EMCDDA access to a dedicated space on its e-learning platform to manage its own training and learning activities. A technical agreement was also signed today to establish roles, responsibilities and workflows in this regard.
The working arrangement was endorsed by the EMCDDA Management Board in June 2022, following consultation with, and a favourable opinion from, the European Commission.
The signing ceremony takes place on the eve of a meeting of the Heads of the EU Justice and Home Affairs agencies at CEPOL (current chair of the JHA agencies network). The nine JHA agencies are: CEPOL, EUAA, EIGE, EMCDDA, eu-LISA, Eurojust, Europol, FRA and Frontex.
