Sweden concludes agreement with France on fighting organised crime

Sweden and France have for long cooperated closely against organised crime. In addition to joint operations within Europol and Interpol, bilateral cooperation between Sweden and France is strong. An example of this is the information the Swedish Police Authority received from the French Police on Encrochat communications. This helped strengthen efforts to combat gang criminality. The special cooperation agreement which has now been concluded by the two countries further enhances and intensifies these efforts. 

“Together with France, we are now accelerating our efforts against organised crime. The new agreement will improve our joint capability to prevent, detect and investigate serious crime, such as trafficking in drugs and arms, through increased exchange of information and cooperation,” says Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer. 

The agreement provides Swedish and French law enforcement authorities even better conditions to request and receive intelligence information from each other. The agreement also opens up for other forms of cooperation, such as the exchange of specialists, study visits, joint training and secondment of liaison officers. 

“The information that the Swedish Police received from France in connection with Encrochat led to hundreds of arrests and sentences totalling thousands of years in prison. We have every reason to intensify our cooperation and plans have already been made for Swedish Police to visit the police in Marseille in the coming months to take further steps in that direction,” says Mr Strömmer. 

Today, Monday 4 March, Mr Strömmer and France’s Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin signed the agreement at a special ceremony in Brussels.