EU justice ministers are convening in Copenhagen to discuss strategies for combating multi-criminal families, which are increasingly involved in organized crime across the European Union. The meeting, hosted by Denmark’s Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, aims to strengthen cooperation among member states in addressing this growing threat.

These criminal families, operating much like organized gangs, are linked to drug sales and violence in European cities. EU Commissioner for Justice, Michael McGrath, emphasized the severity of the issue, describing multi-criminal families as a “real plague” for societies across the EU and stressed the need for aggressive action against organized crime at all levels.

The focus on criminal families comes as Denmark’s National Police identified 35 families, comprising 636 members, classified as “criminal families” with a pattern of inherited criminality and involvement in organized crime. While almost half of these individuals hold Danish citizenship, the remaining members represent 17 different nationalities, including Iraqi, Serbian, Yugoslavian, Swedish, Croatian, Dutch, and Italian.

Sweden, facing its own significant challenges with organized crime, supports Denmark’s focus on the issue during its EU presidency. Swedish Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strömmer, highlighted three priorities shared with the Danish presidency: improving access to data for police and authorities, enacting EU-level legislation to prevent the recruitment of children into criminal networks, and enhancing cooperation in addressing criminal networks and organized crime originating from abroad.