France has hopes of taking the leadership of the European police agency Europol, EUROPE learned in Tallinn on Thursday.
The French authorities have proposed the name of Ziad Khoury, who is currently an official in the French ministry of the interior and a former diplomat in Brussels responsible for French home affairs.
The candidacy of this previously Brussels-based diplomat was approved by the French government a few days ago, Khoury said on the sidelines of the informal meeting of home affairs ministers. The mandate of British national Rob Wainwright comes to an end in April 2018.
The current director of Europol is British, a nationality that poses a question in the framework of the Brexit process, and he has already had two mandates, which is the limit. For Paris, it is said to be in line with the rhetoric of the French president on "a Europe that protects" if a French national takes the leadership of Europol. France has also been strongly affected by terrorist attacks in recent months.
The decision on the candidacies will be taken at the end of the year. Germany, at least, has not presented a candidate for this agency. A French national, Fabrice Leggeri, already holds the office of director at the Frontex agency. His mandate expires in 2019. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)