During 2020, prosecutors from across the European Union and beyond turned to Eurojust for assistance in nearly 8 800 cross-border criminal investigations, an increase of 13% compared with 2019 in terms of total number of cases supported by the Agency.

About half – 4 200 – were new cases opened during 2020, in spite of the challenging circumstances imposed by the many measures introduced as of March to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The other nearly 4 600 cases were ongoing from previous years, reflecting a growing level of complexity in cross-border criminal investigations, which increasingly last more than one year. This confirms a recent trend of cases referred to Eurojust becoming more and more complex and requiring support over longer periods.