07/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - In a press statement Bill Newton-Dunn MEP (ALDE, Britain) has criticised the inability of EU Member States to choose a new Europol director (while waiting this decision, the former vice director Mariano Simancas is acting director: Editor's note). The British Liberal Democrat MEP explained that Jürgen Storbeck, who directed Europol for five years, "has been an outstanding success but the 25 ministers in the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council, including one from the UK, have been wrangling for months…over who his successor should be" at the Justice and Home Affairs Council "bickering in a petty nationalistic way". Mr Storbeck's mandate expired on 17 September. Some think that a director of another nationality is needed. In the meantime, the MEP pointed out in the 2003 on Organised Crime in the EU, the number of criminal groups increased in 2002-03 from 30000 (with around 30,000 members) to 4,000 (with around 40,000 members).