Brussels, 11/05/2016 (Agence Europe) -Following three years of work, the members of the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on Wednesday 11 May, adopted new governance rules for the European police cooperation agency Europol, which will see some of its competences reinforced and its powers of action extended to more areas of crime.
Amongst other things, the new regulation reinforces cooperation between the member states to fight terrorism, trafficking in drugs, human beings and organs, cyber-crime and other types of crime, the Spanish rapporteur, Augustin Diaz de Mera (EPP), explained.
Europol's new powers will be accompanied by more robust guarantees in terms of data protection, as the rules have been brought into line with the new data protection package, which was adopted in April by the European Parliament, and tools to promote democratic control have been brought in, for instance via control by the national parliaments.
Although the regulation has allowed progress to be made, it will not transform Europol into a European FBI, a European police office in its own right, to the great disappointment of various members of the Parliament, such as Gerard Deprez (ALDE, Belgium), who lamented the absence of an “embryonic European FBI”.
The draft regulation, which was concluded principally between the negotiators of the Parliament and of the Council in November of last year, will strengthen Europol's mandate in order to ensure that the agency is genuinely able to fight the increase in cross-border crime and terrorist threats, particularly by allowing it to create specialist units more easily to react immediately to emerging threats, the Parliament explains.
Furthermore, the rules will include clear provisions for the existing units or centres, such as the European Counter-Terrorism Centre, which began its work on 1 January 2016. In certain cases, Europol will be able to exchange information directly with private entities such as businesses or NGOs, in order to be able to work more quickly. For instance, Europol's unit responsible for flagging up internet content may directly contact a social network service provider, such as Facebook, to ask it to take down a webpage managed by Islamic State (IS), to prevent the spread of terrorist propaganda more quickly.
To avoid information gaps in the fight against organised crime and terrorism, the new rules stipulate that the member states will have to provide Europol with all data the office needs.
Europol will present an annual report to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments on the information submitted by the member states, in order to encourage greater sharing of information.
The MEPs also put in safeguards to ensure that Europe's new powers come with stricter guarantees in terms of data protection and parliamentary control. The European Data Protection Controller (EDPC) will be responsible for Europol's surveillance work and a clear complaints procedure will be set in place for citizens, in line with EU law. Europol's work will, furthermore, be supervised by a joint parliamentary examination group, to be made up of members of the national parliaments and of the European Parliament. The regulation will enter into force on 1 May 2017. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)