The Member States of the European Union will formalise in written conclusions their reflections on the future of the police cooperation agency Europol, whose mandate will be revised in December by the Commission.
At an informal videoconference on 21 October (see EUROPE 12587/9), the EU Home Affairs Ministers adopted a 10-point declaration in which they set out the expected parameters for this reform.
The national ambassadors to the EU therefore launched on 4 November the procedure for the written adoption of these conclusions containing these 10 points.
The declaration recalls that Europol is “as an integral part of Europe’s security architecture” and plays a crucial role as a centre for the exchange of information between the law enforcement authorities of the Member States and in supporting and coordinating cooperation in cross-border police work.
Intervening in “a core area of Member States’ sovereignty”, the Member States must therefore play an active role in defining Europol’s future development, in accordance with their interests. They want to focus Europol on its “core tasks of information-sharing, analysis and operational support”.
The clear division of tasks between the Member States and Europol’s support function has proved its worth and should not be changed.
The conclusions still insist on the development of cooperation between Europol and global partners, but the agency should not, however, develop its capacities internationally. The joint steering of Europol by the Member States is favoured.
In order to be even more effective with the Member States, Europol, on the other hand, must promote innovation, for example by developing and using artificial intelligence for analysis and operational support. “For this purpose, the EU Innovation Hub for Internal Security, located at Europol, must immediately begin its work and make technologies such as artificial intelligence and encryption a priority.”
Finally, “optimising” the Agency’s legal framework is necessary for the Agency to process large amounts of data.
Link to the conclusions: https://bit.ly/3kYsJU7 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)