Although they were adopted in 2008 and 2009, the Council of Europe Framework Decision 2008/947/JHA and Framework Decision 2009/829/JHA (FDs, in short), are still underused by the member states. For example, in 2017 FD 2008/947 was only used in 369 incoming cases and 396 outgoing cases. Despite a small progress in 2018 (544 incoming cases and 548 outgoing cases), its potential is far from being fulfilled. The use of FD 2009/829 is even more critical. Statistical data regarding its utilisation is not even available as there is no dedicated agency dealing with it in the member states.
In order to enhance the use of these two FDs, the European Commission through DG Justice Grants decided to fund the project Probation Observatory. Network and Training (PONT), initiated by the University of Bucharest, in partnership with University Loyola Andalucía, University of Latvia, Ministry of Justice Bremen and the Confederation of European Probation (CEP).
The objectives of the project for the next two years are to offer training to the competent authorities on the two FDs and to create a sustainable network of experts in this field.
To this end, the project team will conduct a thorough literature review, covering academic papers, grey literature and previous training content. At the same time, based on questionnaires and interviews, they will run a training gap analysis aiming at identifying the training needs of the competent authorities and probation staff in relation to the FDs.
Based on the training gap analysis and the literature review, they will elaborate a comprehensive training platform and deliver training to at least 60 representatives of the competent authorities and probation staff from at least twelve jurisdictions.
As the training will be conducted in a training of trainers fashion, it is expected that the trainees will become resources (trainers and experts) for their own jurisdictions and the surrounding areas.
The project builds on the previous projects dedicated to mutual trust and FDs. Therefore, the project team would be grateful for receiving information about any brochure, manual, article or training content that was used in your jurisdiction when preparing for the implementation of the FDs. With your consent, they could be stored in a comprehensive bank of training materials that will be open for anyone interested and could also be used on the training platform developed by this project. This information and others that you think might be of use could be directed to the project leader, prof. Ioan Durnescu, email: idurnescu@gmail.com.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Prof. Ioan Durnescu
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The CEP Expert Group on Mental Health met on 19 November 2025 to continue its work on developing a European mental health training curriculum for probation officers. Since last year, the group has been working intensively and meticulously to produce a solid first version of the curriculum.
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