EU: European Commission and Europol sign accord

European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino said "The Commission and Europol have been working together for quite some time: but the increasing links between the Commission and Europol and the strict legal framework of the Europol Convention and its implementing regulations make it necessary to formalise this co-operation."

According to Vitorino, the agreement enables the European Union improve its responses to international and organised crime. The Commission and Europol approach these problems from a different perspective. The Commission focusses more on political, strategic and legal matters but Europol concentrates its efforts on the direct support to investigations and operations of Member States law enforcement agencies.

Europol's Director Jurgen Storbeck said "Europol and The Commission are now in a better position, to provide mutual assistance and to combine their expertise, methods and resources in a wide number of common interests".

It is, perhaps, a surprise that there is need for an additional agreement. But the various Europol documents leave gaps which the new accord fills in.

The Treaty of the European Union mentions (art. 29 and 30) Europol as an important instrument of the Union's efforts to prevent and fight against organised crime in order to achieve the objective of providing its citizens with a high level of safety within an area of freedom, security and justice. The Amsterdam Treaty stipulates (art. 36) that the Commission shall be fully associated with the work in the areas referred to in Title VI: police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters. The Europol Convention stipulates (art. 28/4) that the Commission shall be invited to attend meetings of the Management Board with non-voting status. The Commission also attends, since July 1999, the meetings of the Heads of National Units of Europol as well as various expert groups.

For the Commission to be able to participate effectively in the decision making in the Union regarding organised crime, it is essential that it receives all relevant information, including information from Europol. A special agreement was necessary because the internal regulations of Europol set out specific conditions for the transmission of confidential information to other organisations (including EU-related bodies) or third countries.

The new co-operation agreement will allow only the exchange of strategic information, like situation reports and threat assessments. It does not include the exchange of personal data.

It consists of two parts. The first describes the general framework for co-operation and the second part is an Annex, which sets out the co-operation regarding the protection of the Euro against counterfeiting.

There is to be direct cooperation between Europol and the European Antifraud Office (OLAF) in the fight against the counterfeiting of the euro and against fraud, corruption and money laundering which affect the Communities' financial interests.