EU must share crime data, says Europol chief

The director of Europol, the European police office, has urged member states to share police information with his organisation, warning them that "information which is not shared is, in principle, useless".

Max-Peter Ratzel said that the international dimension of serious crime meant that it was vital to exchange data with an organisation at a European-level.

Ratzel’s comments came as major changes for the organisation are being debated in the Council of Ministers. The European Commission proposed in December that Europol should become an offical EU agency.

Rather than being funded by the national governments, Europol would be funded from the EU budget. The Council could determine its mandate, whereas at present national parliaments must ratify protocols to extend its mandate, a process which has taken years to complete.

The proposals will also change Europol’s focus on cross-border organised crime. It will, in future, encompass serious cross-border crime such as terrorism, serial killers, football hooliganism or child pornography. Other plans include Europol directing, instead of merely supporting, specified joint-investigations, such as euro-counterfeiting, and helping just one member state with a particular crime even without a cross-border dimension. Some member states are expected to resist some of the changes, fearing that the sovereignty of their own police forces might be hindered. But the German presidency of the EU is in favour of the plans and would like to see agreement on them by June.

Ratzel said that developing a common understanding and mutual trust with national police forces would be the most important development for Europol. "In the past people have always, especially in terrorism cases, followed the so-called need-to-know principle which means they only share the information if they have the impression that somebody needs to know the information. My approach, and our approach, is a bit different: information which is not shared is in principle useless," he said.

While he was not asking for Europol to have access to national police databases, the liaison officers seconded to Europol from police forces should have access to their own databases. "So [it is] not Europol [which would have] the access to the national databases - people are often confusing this - but we have access to the liaison officer and they would have access to their national databases and they would decide on a case-by-case which of these data can be delivered to Europol," he said.

Claude Moraes, a UK Socialist MEP and rapporteur on Europol, said he supported moves by the presidency and Commission to develop the organisation to make it more effective.

Kathalijne Buitenweg, a Dutch Green MEP said: "There is a lot of distrust between police forces ...there is not enough data given. Europol can’t function if they don’t get data." She added that the protections around the data should be increased.

Daniel Hannan, a UK centre-right MEP, said the problem with developing Europol’s powers was a lack of accountability over what it did. "Policing and law enforcement are almost the defining characteristics of a state and the state has to be in control," he said.

Ratzel said that Europol would continue to support member states by giving analysis, expertise and technical, material and financial help. He said Europol would not morph into a ‘European FBI’. "I can’t see this, I never asked for this and if anybody has this fear it would be from my point of view unrealistic," he said.

The director of Europol, the European police office, has urged member states to share police information with his organisation, warning them that "information which is not shared is, in principle, useless".