National ambassadors to the EU took note on Tuesday 21 December of a progress report on the reform of the police cooperation agency Europol, whose mandate needs to be strengthened to meet the operational needs of Member States.
In particular, the reform proposal specifies cooperation with third countries and private actors, cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Europol’s capacity both to propose the inclusion of alerts in the Schengen Information System (SIS) and to process large amounts of data.
In the progress report, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, which held two initial trilogues - on 27 October and 30 November - with the European Parliament, which adopted its position in October (see EUROPE 12810/14), considers that “significant progress” has been made on the handling of large data sets, cooperation with private parties, and Europol’s role in research and innovation.
A provisional agreement with Parliament was also reached on the regime for cooperation with third countries, and a number of provisions were agreed on the alignment of Europol’s data protection regime with the EU Data Protection Regulation.
The report acknowledges that questions remain on other aspects of the reform, including the ability of Europol to enter alerts directly, as requested by Parliament, or to encourage Member States to enter alerts into the SIS. A satisfactory compromise could not be reached, writes the Presidency.
“Finally, other amendments by the EP, especially in the area of Europol’s governance (a new Fundamental Rights Officer with a consultative forum, and an early warning system), constitute a third area in which further efforts will be required”.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/3FmIsXq (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)