The year 2025 marks the 40st anniversary of the signing of the Schengen Agreement in 1985 and thirty years since the entry of force of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement. Indeed, “Schengen” is a core reference for cross-border police cooperation in the context of today's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. While engaging with police cooperation may seem merely a technical and administrative matter, it sheds light into questions that are at the heart of the EU integration process. This conference brings together scholars from multiple fields of study -political science, socio-legal studies, anthropology, criminology, law, STS, critical security studies - to discuss timely  developments in policy, law and practice.

PROGRAMME

9:30: Welcome by Stefano Schiavo, Director of the School of International Studies

SESSION I: 10:00-12:00: Developments in police cooperation through the lens of multiple analytical perspectives

·       Christian Kaunert, University of South Wales, Director of the International Centre for Policing and Security; Dublin City University: Europol and the supranationalisation of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

·       Saskia Hufnagel, University of Sydney Law School, Co-Director of the Sydney Institute of Criminology: Harmonisation at all costs? An evaluation of norm-making processes in EU law enforcement cooperation

·       Monika Weissensteiner, University of Trento, School of International Studies: The EU Police Cooperation Code Initiative: an analysis of the “complex web” through interlegality, space and temporality

Discussant: Alessandra Russo, University of Trento, School of International Studies

SESSION II: 14:30–16:30: Operational cooperation & information exchange

·       Vanessa Ugolini, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group on Law, Science, Technology & Society: European information exchange mechanisms as media of cooperation

·       Toine Spapens, Tilburg University Law School, Department of Criminal Law: Practical law enforcement cooperation in the Dutch-Belgian border area: recent experiences and developments

·       Nils Filus, Police Academy Apeldoorn / Canterbury Christ Church University, MScP: Possibilities, aspirations and realities in Dutch-German cross-border police cooperation

Discussant: Monika Weissensteiner, University of Trento, School of International Studies

Final event of the project LEmobAB - Law Enforcement Mobilities Across Borders. Funded by the European Commission, HORIZON 2021, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship,  Grant Agreement No 101063837.