"By collecting, organizing and interpreting a vast bulk of data intelligence allows greater awareness of criminal threats and it permits law enforcement authorities to be more efficient in preventing and discovering crimes. Due to the growing importance of international intelligence cooperation, the European Union (EU) has taken action in the field.The present study focuses on criminal intelligence analysis, i.e. the process of interpreting information for mapping, foreseeing and discovering crime threats, in the EU.The project will provide a scientific basis for the tradecraft and use of criminal intelligence in the EU by undertaking an analytical examination of the function of intelligence at EU level.Taking into account the needs to minimize the impact on fundamental rights and to respect the democratic principles of transparency and accountability of public action, the project aims to: assess the effectiveness of intelligence analysis in preventing and repressing crime; propose solutions to increase the efficiency of intelligence analysis in full respect of fundamental rights and of the democratic principles.With a view to reconstructing the fragmented picture of EU intelligence analysis , the project will collect and analyze all relevant EU documents and map all agencies and bodies who perform or foster intelligence analysis, listing their powers and instruments. It will then dig theoretically into the concept of intelligence: through the study of existing legal and criminological literature it will try to lay a general theoretical framework for intelligence in the EU, providing a clear definition of it and of the role it should play within the context of the criminal justice system.To assess the quality and efficacy of intelligence analysis the applicant will will attempt to evaluate how it is crafted and used by collecting intelligence reports, conducting interviews with experts in the field and researching on existing European and national case-law."