ABSTRACT
A fundamental convention for international legal cooperation in Europe must be introduced; the Council of Europe's 1959 Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (MLA). There have been two main trajectories of the development of police cooperation within the European Union (EU) proper: the TREVI cooperation, leading to Europol, and the Schengen police cooperation, leading to the Schengen Convention that was later incorporated into EU law. The Europol Drugs Unit (EDU) was a predecessor and in a way the first stage of Europol. The work of the EDU was concentrated around the collection and sharing of intelligence regarding the smuggling of illegal drugs and related crimes such as money laundering. Although Europol is within the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, and each Minister that take parts in the Council is accountable to his own national parliaments, the organisation has been criticised for its democratic deficits.
