High Stakes, Low Strategies: the European Union and the Fight against Transnational Organized Crime in State-building Missions

While being active in state-building operations, the European Union (EU) appears to be increasingly aware of the challenge that organized crime poses for political stability in “fragile states” located along its borders and beyond. Justice and Home Affairs has become one of the fastest-growing domains of EU action, and it has acquired an important external dimension, along with other policy ambits traditionally regarded as domestic—such as immigration, organized crime and terrorism. This article offers a brief overview of the evolution of the EU institutional framework concerned with addressing transnational organized crime. It then delves into EU foreign policy through the exploration of the EU missions to Kosovo and Guinea-Bissau, seeking to illuminate the existence of counter crime strategies. The article offers a preliminary assessment of how the post-Lisbon EU defence and foreign policy is conceptually and operationally equipped to meet the challenge posed by transnational organized crime.