The European Commission launches a call for 16.55 million euros for dismantling criminal networks

Funding will support projects against organized crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking, including cross-border investigations, financial investigations, and measures to prevent criminal infiltration.

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals of 16.55 million euros for co-financing projects aimed at combating organized crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking, as part of the EU's efforts to dismantle criminal networks and their business models.

In short

The European Commission has launched a call for projects of 16.55 million euros to combat organized crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking.

The call is open from May 21 to September 3, 2026.

Funding will support the police, law enforcement authorities, civil society, and other public and private bodies.

Projects may focus on improving information about criminal networks, cross-border and financial investigations, preventing criminal infiltration, and dismantling networks involved in human trafficking.

The initiative supports the EU Internal Security Strategy, ProtectEU, the EU Drug Strategy, the Action Plan against drug trafficking, and the Internal Security Fund Program 2023-2027.

The European Commission has published a call for proposals for projects aimed at combating organized crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking. The available budget is 16.55 million euros, and the call is open from May 21 to September 3, 2026.

Funding is intended for police forces and law enforcement authorities, but also for civil society organizations and other public and private bodies working to dismantle criminal networks and the economic models through which they obtain and hide profits.

The Commission states that the call will support projects aimed at improving the information picture regarding criminal networks, facilitating cross-border and financial investigations, supporting preventive measures against criminal infiltration, and dismantling organized crime networks involved in human trafficking in the European Union.

Combating organized crime is presented by the Commission as a priority for the European Union. Organized criminal groups are described as a threat to Europe, as they use violence, corruption, and intimidation to obtain large profits.

The Commission shows that these networks hide assets through complex schemes, outside the formal financial system, and then use the laundered assets to infiltrate the legal economy.

Drug trafficking, including drug production, is described as one of the most profitable forms of crime. The Commission emphasizes that it generates violence, affects health, and causes environmental damage.

Human trafficking is presented as the second most widespread illicit economy globally, with approximately 10,000 victims in the European Union each year.

The Commission emphasizes that human trafficking is often linked to other crimes, such as drug trafficking, facilitating illegal migration, organized crime against property, money laundering, and document fraud.

The call for projects supports the implementation of the EU Internal Security Strategy, ProtectEU, the EU Drug Strategy, and the Action Plan against drug trafficking. The initiative is also part of the Work Program of the Internal Security Fund 2023-2027.

The Commission mentions that previous projects have targeted drug and human trafficking routes from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Western Balkans, artificial intelligence tools for financial investigations, strengthening judicial expertise, and frontline responses to child trafficking.

Organized crime is one of the main internal security challenges of the European Union. Criminal networks operate cross-border, combine multiple types of crimes, and use illegal gains to expand their influence in the legal economy.

Drug trafficking and human trafficking are two of the most important criminal markets targeted by European internal security policy. They have direct effects on public safety, health, victim exploitation, corruption, and the functioning of the legal economy.

Through this call for projects, the Commission seeks to combine support for law enforcement authorities with the involvement of civil society and other public and private actors, to intervene both in investigations and in prevention and dismantling of criminal business models.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/stiri/comisia-europeana-lanseaza-un-apel-de-1655-milioane-de-euro-pentru-destructurarea-retelelor-criminale