2015 discharge: European Police Office (Europol)

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Police Office (Europol) for the financial year 2015.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2017/1717 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Police Office (Europol) for the financial year 2015.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the European Police Office for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2015.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 April 2017 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 April 2017).

Amongst Parliament’s main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, the latter noted that the Office's evolving capabilities, in particular the European Cybercrime Centre and, since 2016, the European Counter Terrorism Centre, have increased its cyber threat profile and has an information security management system in place, which is adapted on an ongoing basis, in line with relevant international standards and best practice examples from the industry.

It also noted with satisfaction that the Office's new legal framework, which will become applicable in May 2017, provides for additional measures in terms of providing the discharge authority with dedicated information about the Office's work, including sensitive operational matters.

Noting with concern the use by the Office of the controversial private database WorldCheck, which often links individuals and organisations to terrorism only on the basis of public resources, without any proper investigation, transparency or provision of effective means of redress, Parliament called on the Office to explain to Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs the way it uses this private database in its work in order to assess the relevance of the use of public funds for acquiring licences for WorldCheck.

Again, Parliament welcomed the successful efforts of the Office in setting up the EU internet Referral Unit, the European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC) and the European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) and encouraged the Office to focus on the development of these three new instruments.