The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) adopted on Tuesday 12 October its mandate to start negotiations with the Council of the EU on the revision of the Europol agency for European police cooperation, proposed by the Commission in December 2020 (see EUROPE 12619/14).
It adopted the new provisions on data processing, cooperation, research and development (47 votes to 16) and on new alerts in the Schengen Information System (SIS) (48 votes to 15).
On this last point, MEPs agreed that Europol should have the capacity to enter alerts into the SIS system itself, a power currently reserved for Member States. These alerts of information on suspects or convicted persons would remain active in the system for 3 years.
The Member States, for their part, wish to continue to provide a framework for this responsibility. In June, they adopted a partial negotiating mandate on Europol’s new competences (see EUROPE 12752/6) and postponed the specific examination of these new alerts, which concern third country nationals.
But they have refused from the outset to allow Europol to enter these alerts itself, as the EU agency can only propose that the Member States do so. Instead, Europol would be responsible for monitoring and reporting on how Member States enter these new alerts into the SIS system.
The Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) will be asked to adopt this position on Wednesday 13 October, without discussion, which will allow them to start work with Parliament.
Parliament’s mandate also provides for Europol to exchange data with private companies, such as communication services, when dealing with terrorist content or child sexual abuse. Under certain circumstances, Europol will also be allowed to process personal data that will have to be deleted after a certain period of time, a statement indicated.
In order to strengthen the fundamental rights guarantees at the same time, the Management Board of Europol will also have to appoint a dedicated fundamental rights officer, and its staff will have to receive specific training.
Criticism from the Greens/EFA. Belgian Greens/EFA negotiator Saskia Bricmont said she was disappointed and “extremely concerned about the further extension of the Agency’s powers”. She also considers that the appointment of specialised fundamental rights officers and the creation of an advisory forum “do not provide sufficient checks and balances”.
The Greens voted unanimously nay, fearing illegal practices at the level of the European Agency.
Link to the draft EU Council mandate: https://bit.ly/30joVrg (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)