Brussels, 07/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 7 June, the member states voiced opposition to the European Commission's plan to merge the European police cooperation agency, Europol, and the European College of Policy (CEPOL), which trains police officers.
European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström published the plans in March with a view to making Europol more efficient and to cutting costs.
As expected, the United Kingdom (where CEPOL is based, at a place called Bramshill) clearly opposed the idea of an “artificial” merger. Home secretary Teresa May said the Council of Ministers must reject the merger. Fearing a heavy-handed approach to monitoring national police forces, May said the reform would force the police to provide ever more information to Europol, putting quantity ahead of quality. She said Europol must not force national agencies to share their information.
Other delegations are also unhappy with the idea. Slovenia, Malta, Austria and Spain opposed the plans on Friday morning during a public debate. Spain says it is a plan that won't provide much value-added. France also opposes the merger plans, indicated minister Manuel Valls at a press conference, explaining that Europol should work for the member states, not vice versa. Denmark also has serious doubts about the merger idea and may even decide to leave Europol.
This is not the first time that the member states have expressed their concerns about the Commission's merger plans, revealed a source, saying that it was now for the Commission to announce what it was going to do with the unpopular draft legislation. The merger would save the EU budget just over €17 million in 2015-2020, as CEPOL currently has an annual budget of €8 million. MEPs on the European Parliament's civil liberties committee also oppose the reform because they say it would result in a watering down of the work of both Europol and CEPOL. (SP/transl.fl)