Problem 7 – The fight against migrant smuggling
What is Europol?
What is Eurojust?
What are the limits and potential benefits?
Moor (2010) – The Europol Council Decision: transforming Europol into an agency of the European Union
From 1 January 2010 Europol has been transformed form an intergovernmental organization into an agency of the European
Union. The agencies of the EU are usually grouped into four different categories, by field or type of activity. One category
is “police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters agencies”, including three agencies: the EU’s Judicial Cooperation
Unit (Eurojust), the European Police College (CEPOL) and Europol.
The development of Europol
Europol is the EU law enforcement organization that handles criminal intelligence. Its formal objective, as laid down in
Article 3 of the Europol Council Decision, is to support and strengthen action by the competent authorities of the Member
States and their mutual cooperation in preventing and combating organised crime, terrorism and other forms of serious
crime affecting two or more Member States. Europol’s main goal is to help achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU
citizens.
Legal basis
When Europol was created in 1995, it was on the basis of one of the classic instruments of international law, a convention
between Member States. Later on other EU bodies and agencies dealing with security-related issues had been set up using
the Council decision, a legal instrument introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The main advantage of a decision over a
convention is that it is relatively easy to adapt to changing circumstances, because it does not require ratification by Member
States. Contrary to conventions, which only become binding upon ratification by the national governments after having
been approved by the national Parliaments or the citizens via referendum, decisions do not need to be approved or ratified
at the national level.
The main importance of the Europol Council Decision is that it provides Europol with a new and more flexible
legal basis. Under the Amsterdam era Third Pillar, the convention became the “ugly duckling” among Third Pillar legal
instruments. The convention was shunned, whereas an impressive list of (framework) decisions was produced by the swift
decision-making machinery of the Third Pillar. With the Europol Council Decision, Europol’s legal basis is brought in line
with the legal framework of other bodies working in the Third Pillar area, in particular Eurojust and CEPOL.
What is the fate of the new Europol Council Decision, now the Treaty of Lisbon of 13 December 2007 provides
for the further development of Europol by means of regulations? In any case, there is no obligation to replace the Europol
Council Decision with a Europol Regulation. There is merely an invitation addressed to the European Parliament, the
Council and the Commission to seek to adopt, in appropriate cases and as far as possible within the five-year transitional
period, legal acts amending or replacing Third Pillar acts of the pre-Lisbon period.
Competence
The Europol Convention used three cumulative criteria to define Europol’s sphere of competence. The Europol Council
Decision further extends Europol’s competence, as the existence of an organized criminal structure is not a limiting element
any more. All forms of serious crime, which Europol is competent to deal with – other than organized crime and terrorism
– are listed in the Annex to the Europol Council Decision. However, none of these crimes have ever been defined. Instead,
they are to be assessed by the competent national authorities in accordance with the national law of the Member States to
which they belong. This leads to the result that the mandate of Europol is interpreted in different ways throughout the EU.
Tasks
The Europol Council Decision mentions three core business: information-related tasks, Europol’s semi-operational
tasks and strategic and operational insight into international organized crime.
Information exchange
Common to any form of information exchange through Europol, is that – as a rule – it is carried out through the national
units and the liaison officers (Article 9 ECD). For its supply of intelligence, Europol depends on the Member States.
Problematic is that due to a lack of trust between Member States, four fifth of the information exchanged by national liaison
officers is exchanged without actually going through Europol, and hence without being stored in Europol’s system of
collected information and without being accessible to Member States other than those directly involved.
What is Europol?
What is Eurojust?
What are the limits and potential benefits?
Moor (2010) – The Europol Council Decision: transforming Europol into an agency of the European Union
From 1 January 2010 Europol has been transformed form an intergovernmental organization into an agency of the European
Union. The agencies of the EU are usually grouped into four different categories, by field or type of activity. One category
is “police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters agencies”, including three agencies: the EU’s Judicial Cooperation
Unit (Eurojust), the European Police College (CEPOL) and Europol.
The development of Europol
Europol is the EU law enforcement organization that handles criminal intelligence. Its formal objective, as laid down in
Article 3 of the Europol Council Decision, is to support and strengthen action by the competent authorities of the Member
States and their mutual cooperation in preventing and combating organised crime, terrorism and other forms of serious
crime affecting two or more Member States. Europol’s main goal is to help achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU
citizens.
Legal basis
When Europol was created in 1995, it was on the basis of one of the classic instruments of international law, a convention
between Member States. Later on other EU bodies and agencies dealing with security-related issues had been set up using
the Council decision, a legal instrument introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The main advantage of a decision over a
convention is that it is relatively easy to adapt to changing circumstances, because it does not require ratification by Member
States. Contrary to conventions, which only become binding upon ratification by the national governments after having
been approved by the national Parliaments or the citizens via referendum, decisions do not need to be approved or ratified
at the national level.
The main importance of the Europol Council Decision is that it provides Europol with a new and more flexible
legal basis. Under the Amsterdam era Third Pillar, the convention became the “ugly duckling” among Third Pillar legal
instruments. The convention was shunned, whereas an impressive list of (framework) decisions was produced by the swift
decision-making machinery of the Third Pillar. With the Europol Council Decision, Europol’s legal basis is brought in line
with the legal framework of other bodies working in the Third Pillar area, in particular Eurojust and CEPOL.
What is the fate of the new Europol Council Decision, now the Treaty of Lisbon of 13 December 2007 provides
for the further development of Europol by means of regulations? In any case, there is no obligation to replace the Europol
Council Decision with a Europol Regulation. There is merely an invitation addressed to the European Parliament, the
Council and the Commission to seek to adopt, in appropriate cases and as far as possible within the five-year transitional
period, legal acts amending or replacing Third Pillar acts of the pre-Lisbon period.
Competence
The Europol Convention used three cumulative criteria to define Europol’s sphere of competence. The Europol Council
Decision further extends Europol’s competence, as the existence of an organized criminal structure is not a limiting element
any more. All forms of serious crime, which Europol is competent to deal with – other than organized crime and terrorism
– are listed in the Annex to the Europol Council Decision. However, none of these crimes have ever been defined. Instead,
they are to be assessed by the competent national authorities in accordance with the national law of the Member States to
which they belong. This leads to the result that the mandate of Europol is interpreted in different ways throughout the EU.
Tasks
The Europol Council Decision mentions three core business: information-related tasks, Europol’s semi-operational
tasks and strategic and operational insight into international organized crime.
Information exchange
Common to any form of information exchange through Europol, is that – as a rule – it is carried out through the national
units and the liaison officers (Article 9 ECD). For its supply of intelligence, Europol depends on the Member States.
Problematic is that due to a lack of trust between Member States, four fifth of the information exchanged by national liaison
officers is exchanged without actually going through Europol, and hence without being stored in Europol’s system of
collected information and without being accessible to Member States other than those directly involved.
