Ladislav Hamran, Eurojust President

For any organisation, an annual report is an opportunity to look back at the previous year and to compare the work that has been done to the initial plans and forecasts. From that perspective, 2022 was a year unlike many others for Eurojust. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February triggered an EU-wide response and included from the onset an important judicial dimension. Only weeks after the start of the war, Eurojust was instrumental in setting up the joint investigation team (JIT) into alleged war crimes in Ukraine, which by the year’s end consisted of no fewer than seven countries, including Ukraine itself.

In addition, the European legislator extended Eurojust’s mandate in June and entrusted us with storing, preserving and analysing evidence on core international crimes. To meet this new task, Eurojust has in the meantime set up a Core International Crime Evidence Database, and we expect our work in this field to substantially grow in years to come.

In parallel, 2022 was the year in which we celebrated our 20th anniversary since Eurojust started operations in 2002. To mark the occasion, we published the commemorative book 20 years of Eurojust: EU judicial cooperation in the making, which brings to the spotlight the great strides forward European criminal justice cooperation has made over the past two decades.

In its very first year, and in a European Union of 15 Member States, Eurojust covered 202 files. The following years saw a steep increase – aided also by consecutive EU enlargements – with Eurojust dealing with 5 608 cases in 2017 and as many as 11 544 in 2022. Our caseload has more than doubled in the past six years alone, and we look forward to sustaining and supporting the further growth curve that lies ahead, with the undoubtable challenges that this will bring.

With this in mind, I thank you for your interest in Eurojust’s work and for your continued support to our mission.