A historic decision was made with the adoption of the working rules of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on EUROPOL, said Chair of the Committee on Internal Security and Public Order Tsvetan Tsvetanov at a press conference on the results from the meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on EUROPOL. The meeting is the fourth event of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, hosted by the Committee on Internal Security and Public Order of the National Assembly.

Parliamentarians from EU member states, MEPs and representatives of the European Commission discussed the multiannual planning of EUROPOL for the period 2019-2021, said Tsvetan Tsvetanov. The topics discussed also included digital connectivity and prevention of organised crime. The Western Balkans are also in the focus of discussion, and therefore I would like to thank all participants in the event, said Tsvetan Tsvetanov. In his words, the Euro-Atlantic orientation of the Western Balkans is of major importance. EUROPOL is open to more potential partners, said the Chair of the Committee on Internal Security and Public Order.

Chair of the Committee on Internal Security and Public Order Tsvetan Tsvetanov also said that despite Brexit, all European politicians would seek ways to keep the good relations with the UK, one of the largest strategic partners and information providers.

Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs at the European Parliament Claude Moraes said that the decision of the parliamentarians was important and would provide an opportunity for EUROPOL to continue its successful work in combatting crime in the Western Balkans and across Europe. This morning we achieved huge success and want to continue building upon it, he emphasised.

EUROPOL CEO Rob Wainwright said that control and accountability were also needed for EUROPOL. This is what we achieved today, we established the mechanism which will bring closer national parliaments and the European Parliament, so that they can exercise effective supervision and control, emphasised the EUROPOL CEO.

Last year EUROPOL exceeded one million messages with data exchanged through our platforms, said Rob Wainwright. According to him, the organisation works towards modernising its information and analytical systems, develops specialised cybercrime centres to warn about illegal content and in other specialised areas, including financial crimes. Our work would be impossible without the support of our colleagues from the law-enforcement authorities across Europe as well as political support, without providing the necessary resources and the right direction for the strategic priorities, said the EUROPOL CEO.

The aim is to increase information exchange in order to better understand how threats and cross-border crime evolve, and how different groups use technologies in more enterprising ways, he said.

European Commissioner in charge of the Security Union Julian King said that at today’s meeting the representatives of the national parliaments and the EP reiterated once again their support for EUROPOL and determined the way to monitor the work of the agency and ensure its accountability. EUROPOL is at the core of our efforts in combatting terrorism, cybercrime and heavy organised crime, said the European Commissioner and added that in the previous year EUROPOL engaged in 400 investigations mostly related to terrorism. They were connected to the work of the platforms in combatting online terrorist content, he explained.

European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Maria Gabriel emphasised that by adopting working rules of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group, the participants in the event clearly demonstrated that national parliaments, the European Parliament and the European Commission wanted to strengthen EUROPOL’s capacity. The intention of the European Commission is to make EU citizens feel safe offline as well as online, said Maria Gabriel.