In a benign military security environment an increasingly integrated Europe sees the citizen as the point of reference for security. While defending territory from attack by external military forces remains necessary, the main task is to secure citizens against malicious attacks that are non-military and independent of geography, and may be beyond the capacity of local law enforcement. Citizens living in Europe are under threat from terrorists operating within European society, attacks that come from the outside or a combination of the two. Organized economic criminals operate in the expanding electronic marketplace, but their location may be unknown or outside the jurisdiction of European law enforcement agencies. Traffickers exploit transnational networks to move drugs, people and weapons to customers and to launder money. In a globalized economy, where both businesses and people move change location more often and to more places, Europeans depend on flows of money, goods, materials, energy and ideas. Therefore we cannot remain indifferent when external forces disrupt these vital flows.

Questions to be addressed include: 

• Do we have a comprehensive legal framework that defines the scope of the transnational threats? Since law enforcement remains a national task, are existing legal frameworks properly reflected in national laws? In an increasingly integrated European Union, which laws need to be adopted at European level?
• Are there modern and effective mechanisms for cross-border cooperation? How well does cooperation work inside the European Union?
• Where laws and strategies have been defined by the European Union, how well does the EU cooperate with partners and sympathetic states? Does the EU have adequate tools to address states that do not behave responsibly in addressing common threats?
• Is there any meaningful role for military instruments in combating transnational threats?
• Do we have a modern and effective system for investigating and prosecuting crimes with transnational effects?