The Austrian Desk is headed by Michael Schmid, who is the National Member for Austria since April 2022.
In 2022, the Austrian Desk was involved in 410 new cases, 19 coordination meetings, 1 coordination centre, and 10 joint investigation teams.
Austria
National Member
National Member
Michael Schmid took up his duties at Eurojust as the National Member for Austria on 1 April 2022. He has been working as a prosecutor on general and economic crime cases at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Vienna since 2011. In 2014, Mr Schmid came to Eurojust as a trainee via the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) and later worked at the Agency as a Seconded National Expert and Assistant to the National Member. In 2017, he became the Deputy National Member, in which capacity he held the role of Vice-Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Team. Between 2017 and 2021, he undertook a Master’s programme in criminal justice at Leiden University in the Netherlands, graduating cum laude.
In April last year, Mr Schmid took up the role of Justice Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU in Brussels. In this capacity, he participated in numerous Council negotiations on criminal and procedural law, as well as the Digital Services Act. Furthermore, he has been a guest lecturer at various universities in Austria and internationally, and a teacher for practitioners at for instance the Austrian Ministry of Justice, the EJTN, the European Legal Academy (ERA) and the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL).
Assistant to the National Member
Claudia Schmidhofer is Assistant to the National Member for Austria.
Contact the Austrian Desk
Casework
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New cases (total) - of which initiating - of which participating |
295 213 142 |
411 234 177 |
389 183 206 |
317 139 178 |
355 157 198 |
410 202 208 |
| Coordination meetings (initiating and/or participating) | 23 | 22 | 29 | 16 | 17 | 29 |
| Coordination centres (organising and/or participating) | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Joint investigation teams (newly signed and/or ongoing) | 3 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
Case examples
Criminal network of migrant smugglers using private aircraft dismantled
October to December 2020 - Migrants pay an OCG up to EUR 20 000 for false diplomatic passports and a place on a private aircraft flying from Turkey. Rather than continuing to their official destination, the migrants leave during the stopovers at European airports, dispose of their false passports and apply for asylum.
Autumn 2020 - At least five such smuggling operations take place in European countries. In addition to migrant smuggling and forging identity documents, the OCG is suspected of issuing false checks and scamming airlines, as well as defrauding hotels.
June 2021 - Eurojust supports the judicial and law enforcement authorities in Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, and Italy by setting up a JIT. During the course of the proceedings, Eurojust hosted four coordination meetings to facilitate judicial cooperation, which included the JIT members and the United States as participants.
13 September 2022 - An action day takes place and leads to 5 arrests (2 in Belgium and 3 in Italy); 7 house searches (1 in Belgium and 6 in Italy); seizures of 2 aircraft, EUR 80 000 in cash, 1 high-end car and electronic equipment; and EUR 173 000 being frozen in Italy.
Eurojust supports action against large-scale VAT fraud to the EU
Crime: An OCG regularly smuggles large quantities of cigarettes produced in the United Arab Emirates to Hungary, committing large-scale VAT fraud. The estimated damage caused by the tax evasion to the European Union budget amounts to over EUR 8 750 000.
Action: On 16 August 2022, a joint action day is supported by Eurojust and Europol, during which one suspect is arrested. International and European Arrest Warrants are issued against three more suspects still at large.
Result: Authorities in Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland dismantle the criminal network. Over EUR 750 000 in several currencies, 7 high-value cars and 49 very high-value wristwatches are seized in Hungary.
Eurojust's Role: The Agency actively facilitates cross-border judicial cooperation between the national authorities involved, including the execution of European Investigation Orders (EIOs) and the organisation of the joint action day.
Eurojust helps return historic painting by Artemisia Gentileschi to Italy
Crime: A historic 17th-century painting, estimated at over EUR 2 million, by the Italian baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, is transferred to Austria where it is due to be auctioned. The suspects obtained an export license from the Italian Ministry of Culture in 2019, by disguising the painter's identity and underestimating its true value.
Action: Following the cancellation of the export license by the Ministry of Culture, two suspects are investigated for fraud and attempts to illegally sell the painting in Austria by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Bari.
Result: Thanks to the judicial cooperation facilitated by Eurojust, the painting is seized at the auction house by the Austrian Police, with the assistance of the Italian embassy in Austria. The painting is successfully returned to Italy.
Eurojust's Role: Eurojust provides rapid assistance through its Italian and Austrian National Desks by supporting the execution of an EIO and a freezing certificate at the request of the judicial authorities in Bari.
Press releases
29 June 2023|PRESS RELEASE
16 September 2022|PRESS RELEASE
29 August 2022|PRESS RELEASE
19 July 2022|PRESS RELEASE
13 April 2022|PRESS RELEASE
04 April 2022|PRESS RELEASE
09 March 2022|PRESS RELEASE
27 May 2021|PRESS RELEASE
18 March 2021|PRESS RELEASE
14 January 2021|PRESS RELEASE
Documents
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union