Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LEmobAB (Law Enforcement mobilities Across Borders)
Période du rapport: 2023-01-01 au 2025-06-30
The MSCA post-doctoral fellowship project Law Enforcement mobilities Across Borders (LEmobAB) investigates the interdependency between localized policing-practices across border-regions and European legal-political practices in the field of police cooperation and interrogates the ways that policing contributes to shaping the European space. The study concentrates on so-called “operational police cooperation” which refers to measures such as cross-border hot-pursuit or joint operations: situations in which officers move into and operate (jointly) on another member state’s territory.
Unusual cross-border workers and the regulation of their mobility: police
Both the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement (CISA) encourage bilateral law enforcement cooperation between member states. The two main references for operational cooperation in EU law are CISA and the Prüm Decisions: both leave it to member states and their bilateral agreements to define in detail the powers conferred in cross-border police cooperation (CBPC). In launching its initiative for an “EU Police Cooperation Code” (EU-PCC), the European Commission problematized that today multiple options are given in EU law and that different rules apply across 60+ bilateral police cooperation agreements. This “complex web” was said to hamper an effective law enforcement cooperation. The EU-PCC initiative resulted in the proposal (2021) and the adoption of a three items package: a directive and a regulation on information exchange and a Council Recommendation on operational law enforcement cooperation.
LEmobAB objectives and expected impact
As outlined in the project summary, LEmobAB pursues three research questions aligned with an (1) empirical, (2) theoretical and (3) applied research objective. Its envisaged impact targets respectively three identified gaps through (1) data-collection and analysis of multi-scalar relations, variables and meanings of enhanced CBPC, (2) the elaboration of an interdisciplinary conceptual framework; 3) enhanced impact of SSH understandings of complex legal, social and political dynamics by exploring the use of digital-visual methods.
LEmobAB connects bottom-up insights from selected border-regions and countries with an analysis of bilateral legal frameworks and of ongoing developments at EU level. This study will produce key empirical results addressing an empirical research gap at scholarly and policy level, accompanied by grounded practice-oriented and space-sensitive concepts of law-making and of law-enforcement regarding a sensitive element in the process of European integration: the exercise of policing powers beyond national jurisdiction. Being an MSCA individual post-doctoral fellowship, the research objectives align with training objectives and career-development goals, aimed at fostering the intersectoral and interdisciplinary expertise of the researcher.
Unusual cross-border workers and the regulation of their mobility: police
Both the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement (CISA) encourage bilateral law enforcement cooperation between member states. The two main references for operational cooperation in EU law are CISA and the Prüm Decisions: both leave it to member states and their bilateral agreements to define in detail the powers conferred in cross-border police cooperation (CBPC). In launching its initiative for an “EU Police Cooperation Code” (EU-PCC), the European Commission problematized that today multiple options are given in EU law and that different rules apply across 60+ bilateral police cooperation agreements. This “complex web” was said to hamper an effective law enforcement cooperation. The EU-PCC initiative resulted in the proposal (2021) and the adoption of a three items package: a directive and a regulation on information exchange and a Council Recommendation on operational law enforcement cooperation.
LEmobAB objectives and expected impact
As outlined in the project summary, LEmobAB pursues three research questions aligned with an (1) empirical, (2) theoretical and (3) applied research objective. Its envisaged impact targets respectively three identified gaps through (1) data-collection and analysis of multi-scalar relations, variables and meanings of enhanced CBPC, (2) the elaboration of an interdisciplinary conceptual framework; 3) enhanced impact of SSH understandings of complex legal, social and political dynamics by exploring the use of digital-visual methods.
LEmobAB connects bottom-up insights from selected border-regions and countries with an analysis of bilateral legal frameworks and of ongoing developments at EU level. This study will produce key empirical results addressing an empirical research gap at scholarly and policy level, accompanied by grounded practice-oriented and space-sensitive concepts of law-making and of law-enforcement regarding a sensitive element in the process of European integration: the exercise of policing powers beyond national jurisdiction. Being an MSCA individual post-doctoral fellowship, the research objectives align with training objectives and career-development goals, aimed at fostering the intersectoral and interdisciplinary expertise of the researcher.
The work was designed and implement along 4 Workpackages (WPs) dedicated to reaching the project´s research objectives and the MSCA PF training and knowledge transfer (KT) goals.
WP1 monitoring/training/KT at the host:
- At the School of International Studies (SIS) of University of Trento: overall monitoring of the project and of project deliverables, supervisor-fellow KT, KT and training through the SIS Research Cluster on International Security, attendance and delivery of lectures and workshops at SIS and the Law Faculty.
- Attendance of one winter-school and other punctual external training opportunities.
- Within the MSCA mobility framework, two short visits were carried out to LE training stakeholders and a secondment completed at the Zürich University of the Arts, Department of Design, Subject area Knowledge Visualization.
WP2 data collection & WP3 – analysis:
- Data collection: public documents issued on EU level (policy, laws) and bilateral police cooperation agreements; interviews carried out with professionals of relevance operating on EU level as well as central-national, regional and local level.
- Analysis focused on a) developments concerning the EU-PCC initiative with a focus on the Commission Proposal and adopted Council Recommendation on operational LE cooperation 2022/915 of 9 June 2022; b) a targeted analysis of approx. 20 bilateral cooperation agreements between neighboring member states; c) practitioner experiences through selected case studies. Visualization techniques were also employed in analysis.
WP4 communication, dissemination, exploitation:
Research progress and results are shared through:
- website www.lemobab.eu and UniTN-SIS webpage https://www.sis.unitn.it/3488/lemobab)(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre);
- presentations at scientific conferences of relevant disciplinary fields (Criminology, Anthropology, European Studies, Socio-Legal Studies);
- delivery of thematic guest-lectures and visual methods workshops, including applied invited lectures at Police Academies;
- science communication and knowledge visualization through digital-visual means (e.g. infographics, comic-blog, other visualizations forthcoming on the web);
- scientific publications, including in collaboration (published after duration of the project);
- organization of main LEmobAB conference, bringing together policing scholars from different disciplinary fields (law, criminology, political science, STS, anthropology).
WP1 monitoring/training/KT at the host:
- At the School of International Studies (SIS) of University of Trento: overall monitoring of the project and of project deliverables, supervisor-fellow KT, KT and training through the SIS Research Cluster on International Security, attendance and delivery of lectures and workshops at SIS and the Law Faculty.
- Attendance of one winter-school and other punctual external training opportunities.
- Within the MSCA mobility framework, two short visits were carried out to LE training stakeholders and a secondment completed at the Zürich University of the Arts, Department of Design, Subject area Knowledge Visualization.
WP2 data collection & WP3 – analysis:
- Data collection: public documents issued on EU level (policy, laws) and bilateral police cooperation agreements; interviews carried out with professionals of relevance operating on EU level as well as central-national, regional and local level.
- Analysis focused on a) developments concerning the EU-PCC initiative with a focus on the Commission Proposal and adopted Council Recommendation on operational LE cooperation 2022/915 of 9 June 2022; b) a targeted analysis of approx. 20 bilateral cooperation agreements between neighboring member states; c) practitioner experiences through selected case studies. Visualization techniques were also employed in analysis.
WP4 communication, dissemination, exploitation:
Research progress and results are shared through:
- website www.lemobab.eu and UniTN-SIS webpage https://www.sis.unitn.it/3488/lemobab)(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre);
- presentations at scientific conferences of relevant disciplinary fields (Criminology, Anthropology, European Studies, Socio-Legal Studies);
- delivery of thematic guest-lectures and visual methods workshops, including applied invited lectures at Police Academies;
- science communication and knowledge visualization through digital-visual means (e.g. infographics, comic-blog, other visualizations forthcoming on the web);
- scientific publications, including in collaboration (published after duration of the project);
- organization of main LEmobAB conference, bringing together policing scholars from different disciplinary fields (law, criminology, political science, STS, anthropology).
This interdisciplinary project produced a series of key results to advance the scientific state of the art.
By connecting a) the study of ongoing legislative developments on EU level, b) an assessment of a case study of bilateral legal frameworks and c) providing bottom-up empirical insights and situated experiences from selected border-regions, LEmobAB contributes to addressing an important knowledge gap. The analysis of the EU-PCC Initiative revealed how on EU level enhanced CBPC acquires meanings in related yet separate policy-fields. In addition, with EU legislation on operational LE cooperation requiring adoption under the special legislative procedure, it is unlikely that there will be any upcoming new EU-level legislation: bi- and multilateral configurations will remain key. Data-collection and analysis of case studies on bilateral level highlight, for example, the importance of accounting of slightly different bilateral legal conditions of possibilities for the exercise of powers beyond national jurisdiction and their reconfiguration over time, but also of varying ways that, e.g. joint operations are set-up, target priorities defined and what meanings are associated with CBPC across scales. CBPC presents a significant spatial dimension both in law-as-text and in practice. On a theoretical level, the interdisciplinary conceptual framework that resulted from the study deepens understanding of the "legal patchwork" described in police-cooperation scholarship and problematized as a "complex web" in EU policy: it does so in a novel way by developing the interface between legal anthropology, legal geography, international political sociology and global criminology.
In its applied dimension, the project has advanced practices of knowledge visualization in analysis and in communication, and initiated applied restitutions and impact, particularly in training. WP4 activities are to be completed beyond the fellowship duration (results/publication section). Beyond the scientific objectives and results, the insights gained in this study provide critical understanding of relevance to HE Cluster III and EU policy objectives contained in the Internal Security and Schengen Strategies.
By connecting a) the study of ongoing legislative developments on EU level, b) an assessment of a case study of bilateral legal frameworks and c) providing bottom-up empirical insights and situated experiences from selected border-regions, LEmobAB contributes to addressing an important knowledge gap. The analysis of the EU-PCC Initiative revealed how on EU level enhanced CBPC acquires meanings in related yet separate policy-fields. In addition, with EU legislation on operational LE cooperation requiring adoption under the special legislative procedure, it is unlikely that there will be any upcoming new EU-level legislation: bi- and multilateral configurations will remain key. Data-collection and analysis of case studies on bilateral level highlight, for example, the importance of accounting of slightly different bilateral legal conditions of possibilities for the exercise of powers beyond national jurisdiction and their reconfiguration over time, but also of varying ways that, e.g. joint operations are set-up, target priorities defined and what meanings are associated with CBPC across scales. CBPC presents a significant spatial dimension both in law-as-text and in practice. On a theoretical level, the interdisciplinary conceptual framework that resulted from the study deepens understanding of the "legal patchwork" described in police-cooperation scholarship and problematized as a "complex web" in EU policy: it does so in a novel way by developing the interface between legal anthropology, legal geography, international political sociology and global criminology.
In its applied dimension, the project has advanced practices of knowledge visualization in analysis and in communication, and initiated applied restitutions and impact, particularly in training. WP4 activities are to be completed beyond the fellowship duration (results/publication section). Beyond the scientific objectives and results, the insights gained in this study provide critical understanding of relevance to HE Cluster III and EU policy objectives contained in the Internal Security and Schengen Strategies.