Brussels, 01/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - All ministers said they agreed, on Thursday, to simplify the process for amending the Europol Convention, but without yet deciding on the method. Among the three options proposed by the Presidency (EUROPE of 27 February, p.10 and yesterday, p. 11), that of amending the Convention as a whole by simple Council decision received no support, contrary to that consisting in limiting this possibility to certain aspects of the Convention. The idea of replacing the Convention by a Council decision also received some interest, but the Council is waiting for its working group on Europol to flesh out this option and its implications. Discussions will thus be held within that group, before returning to the next Council, as will the issue of Europol participation in joint investigating teams. The European Commission has just adopted a communication on the democratic control of Europol, in which it considers that as long as this Office does not have operational powers (participation in investigations), improving this control could simply be a question of better co-ordination between national parliaments and the European Parliament. EUROPE will return to this.
The Council authorised Europol to sign a co-operation agreement with the Czech Republic. This agreement will essentially be on the exchange of strategic and operational information on organised crime. Europol has already concluded similar agreements with four candidate countries: Poland, Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia (EUROPE of 9 November 2001). The Council also approved an increase in Europol's budget of 3.16 million euro, taking it to 51.6 million euro for 2002. This increase is intended to finance its work against terrorism. In its report on the introduction of the euro, presented to the Council on Thursday, Europol says it is satisfied that counterfeiting should have been rare and dealt with swiftly. In most cases it seems to have been deeds by individuals using scanners or photocopiers.