EUROPOL ANNUAL REPORT 1999
(21175)
7728/00
—
|
Europol Annual Report 1999.
|
| Legal base:
| — |
| |
| Deposited in Parliament:
| 2 May 2000 |
| Department: |
Home Office |
| Basis of consideration:
| EM of 5 May 2000
|
| Previous Committee Report:
| None; but see (20419) — ; HC 34-xxix (1998-99), paragraph 15 (27 October 1999)
|
| To be discussed in Council:
| 29 May 2000 |
| Committee's assessment:
| Politically important
|
| Committee's decision:
| Not cleared; further information requested
|
Background
2.1 In October 1999, we cleared Europol's
Six-Month Progress Report (January - June 1999)[8]
which forms the basis of this Annual Report.
The report
2.2 The report gives an overview of the
work undertaken by Europol, and its predecessor, the Europol Drugs
Unit, during 1999. This was the first year in which Europol was
able to take up its duties fully from the legal point of view
but in practice a good deal of set-up work remained to be done,
some of which is still to be completed.
2.3 The report concludes:
"The outcome of the
majority of the activities was positive. However, a detailed evaluation
identified several areas that still require further efforts in
order to improve the outcome of Europol's work.
"Europol and the Member States will strive to:
"— increase the intelligence available
from Member States;
"— develop a system to evaluate the
qualitative value of the information and intelligence exchanged;
"— increase the awareness of the services
available to the Member States within the framework of Europol;
"— promptly start, when possible,
the negotiations with third states and organisations;
"— increase the awareness of the possibilities
the use of Analysis Work Files provides;
"— gradually steer the work from strategic
to operational related activities.
"Taking into account the great significance
the above-mentioned matters have it is only realistic to presume
that these headings will remain for a longer time span than one
year, with a high priority, on the agenda for Europol and its
Member States."
The Government's view
2.4 The Minister of State at the Home Office
(Mrs Barbara Roche) states that the report has no policy implications.
She tells us that the report is due to be agreed at the Justice
and Home Affairs meeting on 29 May 2000.
Conclusion
2.5 We are disappointed by the quality
of the Explanatory Memorandum supplied by the Minister. Although
the report is, by its nature, mainly factual and retrospective,
it summarises the work undertaken by a significant (and not uncontroversial)
body during its first year of establishment. The Explanatory Memorandum
sheds no light on the Government's view of the progress Europol
has made or of the approach it has taken.
2.6 We ask the Minister:
1 to highlight those
aspects of the report she considers especially significant;
2 to give us the Government's view of the
progress made by Europol during 1999; and
3 to explain what she considers is meant by
the final point in the Conclusion — "gradually steer
the work from strategic to operational related activities"
— given the sensitivity which has accompanied any suggestions
that Europol should become an operational force.
2.7 We shall need to receive this information
promptly so that we can consider the report properly in good time
before the JHA Council. Meanwhile, we do not clear the document.
8 (20419) -. Back
| 
