European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats
Criminals cross borders. So do we.
Organised crime doesn’t stop at a national border — so Europe doesn’t fight it one country at a time. EMPACT is how European countries choose their common targets and go after them together. Every year, more than 200 joint operations. Every year, thousands of arrests.
EMPACT in four minutes
The whole thing, explained. What EMPACT is, how a four-year cycle runs, and who does what.
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Read the transcript
Criminal networks are operating in a European or global setting. This requires close cooperation of law enforcement agencies from different jurisdictions and EU agencies and bodies. For example, to dismantle a human trafficking ring exploiting Chinese victims in forced prostitution — this was an operational success under EMPACT.
EMPACT is the permanent EU flagship instrument that builds structured cooperation between law enforcement and other actors to fight serious and organised crime. Under EMPACT, every year over 200 operations are carried out to target serious and organised crime groups. In doing so, these groups are disrupted, making Europe safer.
Led by the EU Member States, EMPACT involves multiple actors and partners. EMPACT builds trust between partners in the continuous fight against existing and new organised crime groups.
EMPACT runs in four-year cycles, with each cycle having four stages. The first stage is Europol’s assessment of current and future criminal threats, the EU Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment. Based on these findings, the EU crime priorities are set. At the same time, a number of common horizontal strategic goals are defined for all the EMPACT priorities, covering cross-cutting topics such as following, seizing and confiscating the proceeds of crime, capacity building, as well as an external dimension.
Then the experts in each priority meet and work together on the steps and activities to carry out in a two-year period. These make up the operational actions to prevent and fight the prioritised threats. At the end of the four-year cycle, an independent evaluation is carried out, the outcomes of which feed into the next cycle.
EMPACT is driven by drivers from Member States. Drivers lead and manage their operational action plans. They are supported by co-drivers. The individual actions are led by action leaders, who safeguard the execution of the relevant activities, including financial management. If needed, they are supported by co-leaders. EMPACT participants are experts in the relevant crime fields and contribute to the development and implementation of the action plans.
National EMPACT coordinators in the EU Member States and non-EU partner countries oversee and coordinate the planning and implementation of actions with and between the national authorities. Each common horizontal strategic goal has a coordinator who ensures coherency amongst all action plans.
Since its beginning, EMPACT has proven to be effective. It allows the optimal use of existing capacities, resources and good practices in the hands of national experts to detect and investigate cross-border criminal cases. It has led to enhanced sharing of information, criminal intelligence and good practices, and resulted in a high amount of successful joint investigations and operations. EMPACT is a proven cooperation model that delivers real and lasting results for a safer Europe.
The short version
The problem
A criminal network can run drugs through one country, launder the money in a second and hide its leaders in a third. Police forces, on the other hand, stop at their own borders. That asymmetry is the single biggest advantage organised crime has.
The answer
EMPACT closes the gap. European countries sit down together, agree which criminal threats are the most dangerous, write a shared plan for each one, and then run joint operations. Police, customs, tax authorities, border guards, prosecutors and private companies all work inside the same framework.
The proof
It is not a talking shop. In its last four-year cycle, EMPACT operations led to more than 52.000 investigations, over 46.000 arrests and €3.74 billion in seized assets — and 25.000 victims identified or brought to safety.
Latest operations
Recent operations carried out under the EMPACT umbrella, across Europe.
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How a cycle works
EMPACT runs in four-year cycles, and every cycle follows the same four steps.
Look at the threat
Europol produces a Europe-wide assessment of what organised crime is doing now and what it will do next.
Choose the targets
Based on that assessment, EU countries agree on a short list of crime priorities.
Act
Experts from each country build a shared action plan for each priority — and then carry it out.
Check
At the end of the cycle, an independent evaluation asks what worked. The answers shape the next cycle.
What EMPACT is going after, 2026–2029
Seven priorities. These are the criminal threats EU countries have agreed are the most dangerous for Europe right now.
2022–2025 in numbers
These are the results of one four-year cycle. The current cycle runs from 2026 to 2029.
EMPACT is a proven cooperation model that delivers real and lasting results for a safer Europe.