Europol

The committee adopted the report by Mr Hartmut NASSAUER (PPE, D) on the Europol convention by 19 votes to 3 with 2 abstentions. EUROPOL is an essential instrument in the fight against the organized crime which has developed in Europe. Frontiers have been no object to organized crime for a long time now. The report deplored the fact that the Member States had taken over three years to conclude the convention. It called on the national parliaments to ratify it and stressed the need to guarantee judicial control of its application through the Court of Justice, calling in this respect for an agreement on the powers of the Court with regard to preliminary rulings to be concluded at the European Council in June 1996 at the latest. The report called on the Member States to adopt the national legislation needed in order to guarantee the protection of personal data, as required under the convention. Members listed a series of points in the convention on which they considered that Council should consult Parliament pursuant to Article K.6 and confirmed their wish to be consulted on the appointment of the director and deputy directors of Europol. The convention should be reviewed within a maximum of two years in order to grant Europol investigatory powers, because the fight against organized crime would only be efficient if based on police action launched from a central office and conducted simultaneously throughout the EU. Finally, the report calls for Europol to be given operational powers, subject to the instructions of a member of the Commission and for Europol to be made accountable to the European Parliament and the national parliaments.�