Today, the Justice and Home Affairs Council adopted the Commission’s proposal for a new legal basis for Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency. Earlier this week, the European Parliament’s Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs had already endorsed the proposal. The draft regulation should now be formally approved by the Parliament, in Plenary.
Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos said: “This agreement on the Europol regulation is a particularly important achievement in times when security and the fight against terrorism rank at the top of the political agenda. Europol is now fully prepared to fulfil its mission to help achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU citizens.”
The swift adoption of the Europol regulation was one of the objectives highlighted in the European Agenda on Security adopted in April 2015. The Europol reform aligns Europol’s legal basis with the requirements of the Lisbon Treaty and equips Europol with the means to become the EU’s hub for information exchange between Member States’ law enforcement authorities.
