It has ambitious plans to target illegal drug trading and terrorism across the 15 EU member states.

It has been described as Europe's answer to the FBI. But Austrian Interior Minister Karl Schlogl has rejected such comparisons.

"This is a long way from a European FBI," he said, "we're not talking about Austrian or French police being active on Spanish soil."

The unit is known to be keen to strengthen ties with Central and Eastern European nations, where organised crime has soared since the collapse of Communism.

"We believe this will impact on our daily lives to a greater and greater extent in the future," said Jurgen Storbeck, the Dutch co-ordinator of Europol.

Unlike Interpol, its officers will not gather evidence against suspects on behalf of other forces, but instead pool the intelligence needed to direct investigations.

Cross-border co-operation

"Just as top-level criminals operate across borders, so law enforcement must be capable of co-operating across borders," said John Abbott, head of the National Criminal Intelligence Service which will represent the UK in Europol.

Europol has been operating unofficially since 1994, but its founding Europol Convention has only recently been fully ratified.

Initially the unit's main focus will be to continue providing information and co-ordination for member states' police forces.

It will also be targeting the trading of people for sex, trafficking of stolen vehicles, nuclear and radioactive material and money laundering.