Open AccessEUROPOL’S NEW MANDATE: BETWEEN SECURITY AND CIVIL FREEDOMS
Author(s) -
Olga Potemkina,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
naučno-analitičeskij vestnik instituta evropy ran
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2618-7914
DOI - 10.15211/vestnikieran62021714
Subject(s) - mandate , agency (philosophy) , commission , united states national security agency , political science , law enforcement , law , enforcement , public administration , legislature , cites , national security , sociology , social science , fishery , biology
The article presents the EU Commission’s legislative initiative to amend the current Regulation of 2016, which defines powers and functions of the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol). The author cites the arguments used by the EU Commission in its decision to expand the functions and powers of the agency: the successful acquisition of new technologies by criminal gangs, the challenges of digital threats for law enforcement and judicial agencies of Member States, which find it difficult at the national level to properly process big data for the investigation of cross-border crimes. The article analyses the main thematic blocks of the new Regulation: enabling Europol to cooperate in the fight against criminal offenses with private parties; empowering the agency to carry out preliminary processing of big and complex databases; strengthening the role of Europol in the field of research and innovation; enabling Europol to enter alerts into the Schengen Information System, etc. The author believes that the expansion of Europol's operational powers brings it one step closer to the «European FB», i.e., an organization of a supranational nature. At the same time, the author cites the arguments of the reform’s opponents, including the political groups of the European Parliament and human rights organisations, which can be divided into two groups: a) under the pretext of ensuring security, the Commission legalises the current practice of Europol, which has gone beyond its current mandate, b) the new functions of the agency for processing a big data pose a threat to the citizens’ rights.