On Wednesday 3 September, the EPP organised a ‘Summit’ on police forces in the EU Member States, at a time when police forces are increasingly subject to attacks and violence, commented the Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and of the EPP Party, Manfred Weber, during a brief presentation to journalists.
The group was due to discuss issues such as freedom of movement, the possibility of making attacks on police officers a European crime, and ways of improving the EU-wide recording and collection of reports of attacks on law enforcement officers.
Alongside the Spanish and Swedish group Vice-Presidents, Dolors Montserrat and Tomas Tobé, the German leader welcomed the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brunner, the head of Europol, Catherine de Bolle, and other experts from Europe’s security sector.
“We want a Europe of free movement where our citizens can move around, but we want to limit the freedom of movement of criminals”, said Manfred Weber, who acknowledged that the EU has no particular powers over national police forces, but “there is a European value that enables us to improve things together”.
“We are still fighting illegal immigration. But there are other important issues on the home affairs agenda, notably the fight against organised crime. The EPP wants to make this an absolute priority”, he added.
The Commissioner, for his part, highlighted the “epidemic of gang-related crime all over Europe”, with 70% of European criminal networks active simultaneously in more than three Member States. “We are making progress in information sharing and Europe is trying to increase the number of joint operations between countries, but this is not working effectively enough”. And “we need more police officers”.
“Being a police officer is a vocation of service to the common good”, commented the Spanish official. “This requires daily sacrifices and involves real risks, risks that must be recognised fairly and consistently across the EU. The EPP will defend official recognition of the risks inherent in the police profession within the European legal framework”.
The Commission is due to present a reform of Europol’s mandate in 2026. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)