To ensure the success of our work in the future, Europol needs to continue investing in technology and innovation, said Europol CEO Rob Wainwright before the participants in the meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol. He presented the multiannual work programme of Europol 2019 – 2021.

Today information exchange is nine times bigger than nine years ago, said Rob Wainwright. He emphasised that at the same time, Europol’s resources have doubled. We need a higher budget and we do not expect this to happen automatically, but it will give us a chance to address the challenges we are facing, said the Europol CEO.

Europol is flexible as regards the implementation of the strategic framework in the core areas of its work: combatting organised crime, cybercrime and terrorism, emphasised Rob Wainwright. We are trying to support member states to tackle illegal migration and trafficking in human beings, he said.

The Europol CEO thanked Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Claude Moraes, co-chairs of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol, for adopting the rules of work for the group.

Chair of Europol’s Managing Board Pritt Parkna said that the Board was hopeful of a good cooperation with the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group. This will help increase security through interoperability, data protection, integrated data management and many others, he added. The Managing Board will continue to focus on combatting illegal migration, said Pritt Prakna.

In response to the question about what actions would follow Brexit, Rob Wainwright said that Europol was interested in developing the necessary toolkit in order to keep the existing ties with the UK after Brexit.