The President of the AEPC, Stefan Aegerter, welcomed the directors and representations from Hungary, Portugal, Austria, Norway, Georgia, The Netherlands, Poland, Latvia and Serbia in Bern. The EC discussed and agreed on the proposal of the new strategy for 2026–2028 as a common foundation for the further development of police leadership training in Europe.
Both the strategy and the regulations were comprehensively developed within six months, which is remarkable. This is an important step towards the structural consolidation and repositioning of the AEPC.
Among other things, the new strategy provides for the establishment of expert committees on police leadership, didactics, resilience and mental health among police officers. The central premise is that scientific research will be systematically integrated into the expertise as a basis for high-quality, Europe-wide leadership training.
The draft that has now been developed will be submitted to the 46 member states for formal consultation in the coming weeks.
The programme for the Annual Conference in Belgrade on 23–24 September 2025 was also discussed.
The importance of the Swiss presidency was strongly emphasised by the contributions of Attorney General of the Swiss Confederation Dr. Stefan Blättler, Government Council and Director of Security of the Canton of Berne Philippe Müller, National Councillor Reto Nause and Vice-Director fedpol Dr. Emre Ertan.
I would like to thank all my colleagues for their trust and for their shared commitment to further strengthening the AEPC as Europe’s leading security policy education platform.
Leadership in the security sector is not just a question of education and training – it is a question of strategic responsibility.
