Today, the Federal Minister of the Interior of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Minister of Justice and Security of the Netherlands discussed bilateral police cooperation and reaffirmed their countries’ longstanding tradition of strong cross-border police cooperation and state the following.
Building on our Joint Declaration of Intent of 12 December 2024, we are taking concrete next steps to modernise and strengthen the legal framework enabling this cooperation.
Resolved to further intensify bilateral police cooperation with regard to all forms of cross-border crime, we have initiated joint meetings for a dedicated treaty to governing the bilateral cooperation and cross-border deployment of police special intervention units of our countries. We welcome the progress made in these ongoing deliberations that are aimed at a swift creation of the new treaty.
Furthermore, a comprehensive joint assessment of the needs for potential revision and amendment of the Treaty of 2 March 2005 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the Cross-Border Police Cooperation and the Cooperation in Criminal Law Matters (“Enschede Treaty”) was conducted. Given that the current Enschede Treaty dates from 2005 and considering the significant developments in European Union legislation since then, we recognise that the Enschede Treaty would benefit significantly from modernisation.
We therefore affirm – in addition to creating a treaty governing the bilateral cooperation and cross-border deployment of police special intervention units- our shared commitment to revise the Enschede Treaty as well to enhance our ability to coordinate and effectively respond to emerging threats, and to strengthen our resilience. The revision will strive to achieve greater harmonisation between treaty regimes, especially relevant in the border region, while addressing operational needs. In particular, we seek to strengthen the regime for information exchange, update provisions related to mutual assistance, executive powers, arming and equipment, as well as identify opportunities to further deepening bilateral cooperation. The revised treaty should provide a robust and flexible framework enabling intensified cooperation beyond existing European and international arrangements.