SIRIUS project: the impact of risk society on new EU security measures
source: Eurojust
by Lucrezia Nicosia, 5,5 minutes
From 1951 and up until the 1990s, Member States wished to keep criminal law within their own authority, and cooperation was limited to some multilateral agreements, such as the Schengen Agreement. Only in 1992 did the Treaty of Maastricht introduce the nowadays known area of freedom, security and justice of the European Union. Subsequently, it was with the Treaty of Lisbon that the area was redefined within the wording of primary EU law. To this end, agencies have been recently established in order to support and coordinate the work of the Member States.
Currently, within the EU, multilateral cooperation in criminal matters is built on three levels: the police level, the prosecutorial level, and the judicial level; the Europol, the Eurojust and the European Judicial Network are some of the main agencies involved in the three levels respectively.
It can therefore be argued that nowadays’ European criminal justice system is the result of continuous development throughout history. This development relocated the function covered by the European Union in cross-border criminal matters. Indeed, the EU’s role moved from a marginal one, as Member States preferred to rely on multilateral agreements, to an essential one, as the support of EU agencies may be necessary for the Member States when dealing with specific crimes. In relation to this last point, the SIRIUS project draws particular attention.
What is the “SIRIUS project”?
Almost one year ago, on the 23rd December 2020, the Europol and the Eurojust signed a contribution agreement for the expansion of their cooperation in the SIRIUS project, the latter also being in close partnership with the European Judicial Network. This project aims to help investigations with cross-border access to electronic evidence, in particular considering the complexity and the volume of online information. This is done by providing services and developing tools available to EU law enforcement and judicial authorities.
The project already existed in 2017 and it only involved Europol. With the introduction of this new agreement with Eurojust, various practical measures have been outlined in order to achieve the intended aim:
First, the strengthening and the speeding up of direct cooperation between law enforcement authorities and online service providers to access e-evidence by exchanging experiences;
Second, the exchange of practices and training for EU practitioners on applicable rules in the US related to the mutual legal agreement procedure;
Third, the expansion of the geographical focus of SIRIUS to develop collaboration on existing initiatives and projects with selected non-EU countries based on the interest of EU Member States.
As of today, the platform is being used by the competent authorities representing all EU Member States and a growing number of third states.
source: Europol
It must be said: the SIRIUS project not only represents a great success in terms of utility for sharing knowledge on cross-border access to electronic evidence, but it also elevates the European Union as a central reference point for the Member States when dealing with criminal investigations that require online expertise.
The success of this project highlights the importance gained by the European Union in supporting the Member States in their fight against terrorism, cybercrime, and other serious and organized forms of crime. Nevertheless, it may be argued that the competencies held by the EU in the area of freedom, security and justice not only increased in order to facilitate the cooperation in cross-border crimes but also to face new "man-made" risks that are the result of our globalized society. As a matter of fact, if we take into consideration the data and evidence that are to be found online, the national authorities have much more limited space of manoeuvre compared to what Eurojust, Europol or even the European Judicial Network can do. It is for these reasons that this collaboration between Europol and Eurojust in the SIRIUS project appears to have been necessary in the light of the new risks arising out of the “risk society” described by Beck.
What is the “risk society” and what is the connection between this concept and the agreement between Europol and Eurojust?
Risk society is a term used to describe the way modern industrialized and globalized societies organize to respond to new man-made risks. In particular, the German sociologist Ulrich Beck described this notion as “a phase of development of modern society in which the social, political, ecological and individual risks created by the momentum of innovation increasingly allude to the control and protective institutions of industrial society”. He further stated that “In advanced modernity, the social production of wealth is systematically accompanied by the social production of risks. Accordingly, the problems and conflicts relating to distribution in a society of scarcity overlap with the problems and conflicts that arise from the production, definition and distribution of techno-scientifically produced risks.”
What it means is that the greater the technological and the scientific development, the greater the risks that we cannot control. The SIRIUS project perfectly describes this phenomenon: major improvements in human history led to the creation of the internet which, while having good sides on the one hand, also brings with itself new unpredictable risks which need to be controlled and for which enforcement and judicial authorities need to be trained. It is indeed for this reason that we can affirm that “we are suffering from the consequences of the victory of modernity” (Beck).
Consideration needs to be made: prima facie, the definition of “risk society” gives a negative picture of nowadays society, which seems to be a victim of its own improvements. Nevertheless, from the perspective of European integration, it is precisely due to the rise of this new culture of risk that the area of European Criminal Justice could expand. Indeed, as stated before, if we take into consideration the data and evidence that are to be found online, the national authorities have much more limited space of manoeuvre compared to what Eurojust, Europol or even the European Judicial Network can do.
The success of the SIRIUS project among the EU Member States is thus explained in light of the risk society. Indeed, such a system is perceived by national authorities as being a more suitable tool for preserving justice around Europe. As it was explained above, while on the one hand, the emergence of the risk society pictures negatively our reality, on the other hand, it gives the EU the possibility to further expand its area of domain.
Therefore, the SIRIUS project not only represents a great idea from a justice perspective, but also from an EU standpoint, as it constitutes a further step towards European integration.
