The Europol Council Decision: A New Legal Basis for Europol
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441000100206 |
| Published date | 01 June 2010 |
| Date | 01 June 2010 |
| Author | Gert Vermeulen,Alexandra De Moor |
| Subject Matter | Article |
178 Intersentia
THE EUROPOL COUNCIL DECISION:
A NEW LEGAL BASIS FOR EUROPOL*
A D M** and G V***
ABSTRAC T1
is article oers a thorough an alysis of the legal ba sis of Europol over the years of its
existence. ree eras are distinguished: the pre-Convention era, the Convention era and
the post-Convention era. e succes sion of legal instrume nts represents choice s
embodying the de velopment of Europol. e choices made are analysed and evaluated
using four criteria: necessity, consi stency, balance and trans parency. By studying
Europol’s legal basis simultaneous in sight is gained into the lawmaking proce ss under
the third pillar of the EU. Here a distinction i s made be tween the per iods before and
aer the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, as well as between the periods
before and aer the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.
Keywords: European Police Oce; EU third pilla r; EU crim inal law; Europol
Convention; Europol Council Decision
* is article serves as a bu ilding block i n the writ ing of a doctoral thesis in law (worki ng tit le:
Europol, quo vadi s? Critic al ana lysis a nd evaluat ion of the de velopment of the Eu ropean Pol ice
Oce). Europol is thema tically diss ected into six cluste rs: legal basis; objec tive; competence; tas ks;
governance a nd control. On each of the six clusters , the choices made are a nalysed and evaluated
using two s ets of criteria, corresponding to t wo types of ev aluation: product-ev aluation (necessity,
consistency and balanc e) and process- evaluation (transparenc y, professiona lism). is p aper is
devoted to the rst cluste r ‘legal basis’. On the se cond cluster see, A. De Moor & G. Vermeulen,
“Europol and the blurring of bounda ries between law enforcement and public order”, in P. Deelman
et al (eds.), Cahie r Politiestudies: Policing in Europe, Antwerp, Mak lu, 2010 (submitted for review).
On the third cluster see , A. De Moor & G. Vermeulen, “Shapin g the competence of Europol. An FBI
perspective ”, in M. Cools et al (eds.), Governance of Security Rese arch Paper S eries, Antwerp-
Apeldoorn-Portla nd, Maklu, 2010, 63–99.
** Academic Ass istant of Cri minal Law at the Institute fo r International Research on Cr iminal Policy
(UGent) – Alexandr a.DeMoor@Ugent.be.
*** Professor of Criminal L aw – Director of the Institute of Internationa l Research on C riminal Policy
(UGent) – Gert.Vermeulen@Ugent.be.
e Europol Counci l Decision
New Journal of Eur opean Crimina l Law, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2010 179
1. INTRODUCTION
e European Police Oce (Europol) is the European Union (EU) law enforcement
organisation that handles cri minal intelligence. Its aim is to improve the eectiveness
of cooperat ion between t he authorities in the Member States (main ly police forces ,
immigration and customs aut horities) competent for preventing and combating
serious forms of i nternational crime. Europol wa s created in 1995, on the basi s of an
established instrument of publ ic international law, a convention between Member
States (Europol Convention).1 It was the rst organisation set up under the provisions
1995 Europol stood alone as an i nstitutional player in the third pi llar and in terms of
law enforcement cooperation ha d the most experience. e d rawback was that the
legal basis of Eu ropol no longer reected state of the a rt legislation. In the meantime
other EU bodies and agencies dealing wit h security related issue s had been set up by
Council decisions, a legal i nstrument intro duced by t he Treaty of Amsterdam.3 In
December 2006 t he European Commission submitted a Proposa l to replace the
Europol Convention by just such a Council Decision.4 e Commission Proposal was
for long the subject of intense discussion, until aer 15 months of negotiations the
Member States reached a political agreement under the Slovenian Presidency (JHA
Council of 18 April 2008). Formal adoption was ultimately postponed from end of
2008 to early 2009, due to a reservation of the Czech Republic, wh ich held t he
Presidency in the rst half of 2009. At its meeting of 6 April 2009 the Council of
Justice and Home Aairs M inisters (JHA Council)5 ultimately adopted the Counci l
Decision establishing the Europe an Police Oce (Europol), transformi ng Europol
from an intergovernmental orga nisation into an EU agency (as from 1 Januar y
2010).6
e new Europol C ouncil Decision triggers a thorough analysis of the legal basis
of Europol over the years of its existence. e succession of legal instruments represents
choices embodying the development of Europol: from the Min isterial Agreement in
1993 via the Joint Action and the Convention in 1995 to the Council Decision in 2009
1 OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p. 1.
2 OJ C 191, 29.7.1992, p. 1.
3 OJ C 325, 24.12.2002 , p. 5.
4 COM (2006) 817 nal of 20 Decem ber 2006.
5 e Counci l of the EU is the Union’s main deci sion-making bo dy. e Council is made up of the
ministers of the Membe r States. It meets in t en dierent c ongurations depending on the subject
under di scussion. e Justice and Home Aairs conguration (JHA Cou ncil) brings together the
ministers for justice, ministers for t he inter ior and minister s for immigrat ion. roug hout thi s
article t he words ‘Council’ and ‘J HA Council’ a re used interchangeably.
6 OJ L 121, 15.5.2009, p. 37. See R. Genson & E. Buyssens, “La tr ansformation d’Europ ol en Agence de
l’Union: regard s sur un nouveau cadre jurid ique”, Revue du Marché Commun 20 09, 525, 83–87. See
also A. D e Moor & G . Vermeulen, “Europol, quid novis? K ritische exploratie van het Eu ropol-
Besluit”, Panopticon 2010, 1, 20–45.
To continue reading
Request your trial