With the United Kingdom expected to make a formal announcement in March 2017 of its intention to leave the European Union, the British government announced on Monday 14 November that it plans to participate in the new Europol regulation, as it is permitted to do under the Treaty of the EU.
The competent minister, Brandon Lewis, made the announcement. He also took pains to stress that it is too early to speculate on the possible next steps in security cooperation between London and the EU, once the country has left.
Explaining his announcement on Europol, Lewis said that the new European regulation, which was adopted in May of this year and will enter into force in May 2017, would run partly along the same lines as his country's approach to tackling terrorist propaganda and cyber-crime.
He stressed that the UK is leaving the EU, but the reality of cross-border crime will continue to exist. He went on to say that in this regard, Europol provides the country with considerable assistance. Staying in Europol will allow us to keep this assistance until we are out of the Union, he said.
The British parliament must be consulted on this decision in the first instance, before the government may notify the European Commission of its intention to stay within the police cooperation agency.
According to a European source, the country would have been kicked out of Europol on 1 May 2017 had it not made this notification. The previous government chose not to notify its participation in the new regulation on the agency during the discussions on the text; therefore, the UK only had until the deadline on May 2017 to do so.
In any event, this announcement coincides with a report in The Times of Tuesday 15 November, revealing confidential documents stating that the British government allegedly has no overall plan to prepare for Brexit, in particular due to divisions within the Cabinet on the issue. The government may also need an extra 30,000 people to prepare for Brexit.
According to a note by a consultant, dated 7 November and revealed by the British daily, it will take another six months before the government knows what exactly it hopes to obtain from the negotiations on leaving the EU. Each department is reported to have made a plan and listed the potential consequences of a worst-case scenario. However, none of this amounts to either a plan or an overall exit strategy, the note points out. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)