On 17 April 2018, more than 30 suspects, including the 4 leaders of the organised crime group, composed of Georgian and Armenian nationals, were arrested after simultaneous operations of the French and Greek judicial and law enforcement authorities in Caen and Thessaloniki.

Several coordination meetings held at Eurojust led to the first joint investigation team agreement ever signed between France and Greece on September 2017. Eurojust provided substantial logistical and financial support to the joint investigation team, which culminated in the establishment of a coordination centre at Eurojust’s premises in The Hague. The common action day was coordinated by Eurojust with the support of Europol, allowing for real-time exchange of information and cross-checks of the evidence gathered against Europol’s databases.

The transnational organised crime group (OCG) is believed to be a predominantly Georgian mafia organisation called ‘Vory V zakone’, suspected of having committed thousands of burglaries and retail thefts in the Normandy region as well as in Greece. It is estimated that the OCG committed on average 13 shoplifting acts in France and 3 house breakings in Greece a day, causing a severe damage of several millions of euros. The OCG, whose sponsors were located in Greece, was hierarchically structured and governed by rigid rules, including the provision of capital to the ‘obshak’, a fund used as a common financial deposit for criminal activities.

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The online consultation is not a selection process as in parallel, the organisers will assess and select the sessions, based on the quality of the proposals and on the criteria of the event guidelines. Even if a session is part of the rating process, please note that this does not mean that the session is selected for the official programme.

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On 19 March 2018, the Council adopted Decision 2018/459/CFSP[1]. The Council Decision extends the existing restrictive measures until 31 March 2019.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, Montenegro* and Albania*, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Liechtenstein, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Georgia align themselves with this Decision.

They will ensure that their national policies conform to this Council Decision.

The European Union takes note of this commitment and welcomes it.

[1] Published on 20.03.2018 in the Official Journal of the European Union no. L 77, p. 17. 

*The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

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Certain data (name, e-mail address, preferred language, media name, media type) may be disclosed to the press offices of the European institutions, the Permanent Representations of the Member States and to European Union agencies, under the conditions laid down in Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation 45/2001.

If there is data which you would not like to be stored, please let us know at: press.office@consilium.europa.eu