18 November 2024

In the framework of the parliamentary cooperation of the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group (JPSG) on the Europol has held its meeting, co-organised with the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, on 12 November 2024 in Brussels. The event, which took place in the European Parliament, was attended by delegations from 24 EU Member States and Members of the European Parliament. The conference was co-chaired by Dr. Imre Vejkey, Chair of the Committee on Justice, Lajos Kósa, Chair of the Committee on Defence and Law Enforcement of the Hungarian National Assembly, and Javier Zarzalejos, Chair of the EP LIBE Committee. Speaking on behalf of the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU, Bence Rétvári, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Interior, said in his keynote speech that illegal migration causes an unprecedented threat to European security. He urged the EU to provide all assistance to member states to maintain security and support national law enforcement authorities. Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, was not present in person at the event, but sent a video message summarising the European Commission's work against organised crime over the past five years. She stressed that Europol's mandate has been strengthened, underlining that the most important task is to keep citizens secure and safe.

The next item on the agenda was a presentation by Catherine de Bolle, the Executive Director of Europol, and Peter de Buysscher, the Chair of the Europol Management Board on Europol's activities, strategic and operational developments between March 2024 and October 2024, with a special focus on the multiannual Europol Programming Document 2025-2027 and external relations. During the agenda on data protection, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, European Data Protection Supervisor explained that the priority in recent years has switched on the treatment of big data, and the exchange of information between the law enforcement services of the member states and Europol, and the handling of biometric data. Daniel Drewer reported on his consultative work as Europol’s Data Protection Officer. During the agenda on the protection of fundamental rights, Dirk Allaerts, Europol's Fundamental Rights Officer informed the members of parliaments about his advisory activities, underlining the importance of continuous training. Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, Europol's Deputy Executive Director for Operations presented Europol's latest activities in relation to the war in Ukraine. He provided information on the forms of cooperation with Ukraine, including in the areas of information exchange, support to war crime investigation authorities, preventing arms trafficking and reducing cyber threats.

In addition to evaluating Europol's activities, the meeting also gave opportunity to the JPSG participants to express their opinions on two scrutiny items of the agenda. Within the thematic agenda item on the management of illegal migration, Lajos Kósa, acting co-chair of the meeting, stressed that it is crucial to ensure the safety of the people, emphasising that illegal migration should not be managed, but stopped. Deputy Minister of Interior Bence Rétvári pointed out that the majority of European citizens strongly associate illegal migration with the decline of public security. He underlined that the only solution to stop illegal migration and ensure security is to protect and control the external borders, and the EU has to support member states to tackle this problem. Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, Deputy Executive Director for Operations at Europol, referred to illegal migrant smuggling as one of the biggest threats, confirming that Europol continues to support Member States' law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism and migrant smuggling.

During the agenda item on the fight against cybercrime, Imre Vejkey, acting co-chair of the meeting, pointed out that the development of artificial intelligence creates opportunities for law enforcement and criminals alike, and therefore it is crucial to provide law enforcement authorities with the necessary capacities, both in technical and human terms, including access to knowledge through joint trainings for the authorities. Bence Rétvári pointed out that law enforcement agencies need to be prepared for the challenges raised by the latest technologies and that this should also be taken into account in EU legislation. In his view Europol must become a hub that actively influences the creation and adaptation of the most effective law enforcement technologies. Floriana Sipala, Deputy Director-General in charge of Schengen and Internal Security of the European Commission, stressed the importance of the EU regulation on artificial intelligence, pointing out that this is the first legislation in the world to regulate this field, because training of law enforcement officers is crucial in the fight against criminals, who use artificial intelligence and are becoming increasingly skilled. Andrei Linta, Europol's Deputy Executive Director for Capacities, pointed out that the rapid development of artificial intelligence is leading to more sophisticated cyber-attacks, criminals no longer need a high level of proficiency because they can easily carry out high quality malicious activities. Montserrat Marín López, Executive Director of CEPOL and Head of CEPOL's EU Training Centre Unit based in Budapest, detailed the training programmes in the field of artificial intelligence provided by CEPOL in cooperation with authorities of internal security and Europol.

More information on the 15th JPSG on Europol meeting can be found here.