Brussels, 01/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 30 November, the Civil Liberties Committee at the European Parliament, approved the toughening up of Europol powers, so that the police cooperation agency would be better armed in tackling terrorism, cybercrime and other forms of criminality.
These new rules on governance were subject to a preliminary inter-institutional agreement and come with strong data protection safeguards and democratic oversight. According to an EP press release, the draft regulation will make it easier for Europol to set up specialised units to respond immediately to emerging terrorist threats and other forms of serious and organised crime. Europol will be able to exchange information directly with private entities such as firms or NGOs, contact social network service provider Facebook directly to ask it to delete a web page run by ISIS or request details of other pages that might be run by the same user, so as to prevent the spread of terrorist propaganda.
Member states will also be obliged to provide Europol with sufficient information so that the agency can carry out its work correctly. Every year, Europol will have to provide a report to the institutions regarding the degree of cooperation provided by the member states and their progress in terms of information sharing. Exchanges between Europol and Eurojust will also be stepped up.
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) will be responsible for monitoring Europol's work and there will be a clear complaints procedure under EU law for citizens, added the parliamentary committee.
Europol will also be controlled by a joint committee made up of MEPs and members of the national parliaments.
Europol is also expected to receive authorisation for directly crossing data received with that from the Schengen Information System (SIS and SIS2), according to a request made in this connection on 20 November last by EU Home Secretaries (see EUROPE 11435). At the beginning of 2016, the agency will also launch its European antiterrorism centre, which will bring together experts from the different member states. (Solenn Paulic)