Impasse over Europol post is dubbed a ‘scandal’ by top cop

By David Cronin

Date: 07/10/04

MEMBER states' failure to agree on who should take the top job at Europol has been dubbed a "real scandal" by the head of the European Confederation of Police (EuroCOP).

The post of director at Europol, The Hague-based police cooperation office, has been vacant since June. No compromise could be brokered between France and Italy, both of whom wanted the post for one of their officers, and Germany, which sought the reappointment of the outgoing director, Jürgen Storbeck.

To overcome that deadlock, a fresh selection procedure has been opened, with the closing date for applications set for 19 October. Once that has expired, a selection board will draw up a shortlist of candidates, which will then be put to the Council of Ministers. The board comprises representatives of five EU countries, chosen by a lottery.

Heinz Kiefer, president of EuroCOP - the umbrella group for police staff organizations - believes the behind-the-scenes wrangling over the post is undermining confidence in Europol.

"It is a real scandal that this position is treated in such an unprofessional way," he told European Voice.

"This institution has been called the most important police institution in Europe, so it shouldn't be possible to have a skirmish over who will be the director of the place.

"If you imagine this happening in a member state, a minister would have to go if he is not able to find a replacement for the director of any agency under his authority.

"In turn, this is not likely to strengthen the trust of national agencies in the institution."

A spokeswoman for Europol declined to comment on Kiefer's remarks, stating only that the appointment of its director is a matter for EU governments,.

Since its precursor, the Europol Drugs Unit, was formed in the 1990s, one of the complaints about Europol is that it has been hamstrung by the reluctance of national police authorities to provide it with sensitive information.

Kiefer thinks that a further problem is that "the personnel in Europol are changed every 2-4 years, so there is a huge fluctuation inside the organization".

He suggested two ways of remedying the situation: staffing Europol with full-time officers or ensuring that the officers seconded to it from national police forces are required to stay there for longer periods.

Kiefer also noted that the EU's goal of having a force of 1,000 police who can be deployed in a crisis situation within 30 days has fallen off the political agenda.

He described the idea, endorsed by the Union's leaders at their June 2000 summit in Feira, Portugal, as "not feasible".

"There are different [member state] philosophies of taking action, different equipment, language barriers and so on. From my perspective, such an idea cannot but falter."

But he welcomed the accord by defence ministers last month to set up a 3,000- strong EU Gendarmerie Force for conflict prevention or resolution.

"The [Kosovo] situation is so problematic that you cannot responsibly put usual police officers into the situation.

This creates the need for well-prepared, equipped and trained closed units in order to create the circumstances - after a military intervention - for a civil police service to be deployed. A number of member states don't have units suitable to such a job.

EuroCop, the European Confederation of Police criticised Member States for failing to reach an agreement on the appointment of a new Europol director. The position had been vacant since June 2004.

• Primary Source

http://www.eurocop-police.org/english/start.htm http://www.eurocop-police.org/english/start.htm

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