Co-operation between the Dutch and German police forces at the Euregional level Comparing police co-operation in the EUREGIO and the Euregion Meuse-Rhine

The EUREGIO is the oldest Euregion in Europe and not much research have been done on the cross-border police co-operation. This creates a question on the scope and intensity of police co-operation is in the EUREGIO. The EUREGIO will be compared to the Euregion Meuse-Rhine. In the Euregion Meuse-Rhine, there is a lot of research done on the police co-operation. This lead to the following research question: To what extent differ the scope and intensity of the police co-operation in the EUREGIO from the scope and intensity of the police co-operation in the Euregion Meuse-Rhine and how can these differences be explained? There are several factors that influence police co-operation. In this research, the focus will be on institutional, political and social factors. The EUREGIO has the cross-border police team and the Euregion Meuse-Rhine has several Euregional organisations to improve the police co-operation. Both Euregions use workgroups and funding from the European Union to start projects that improve the police co-operation. There are few possible explanations for the differences in het cross-border police co-operation between the two Euregions. It can also be said that the scope and the intensity in the Euregion Meuse-Rhine is larger than in the EUREGIO.