EU-ministers debatteren over benoeming nieuwe hoofd van Europol (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Home affairs ministers meeting on Thursday (25 February) are set to discuss the appointment of a new head for the EU's police co-operation unit, with candidates from UK, Hungary and Spain shortlisted for the job.
The British candidate, Bob Wainwright, head of the national agency dealing with organised crime and Europol's contact bureau in the UK, was supported by a majority of member states and had the endorsement of Europol's management board, diplomatic sources from several countries told EUobserver.
However, the decision needs unanimity among member states. If no deal is reached on Thursday, EU ministers could agree at their next meeting scheduled for 6-7 April, a week before the mandate of the current director, German police official Max-Peter Ratzel, runs out.
French and British diplomats said there was a broad consensus to come up with a decision before mid-April, in order to avoid a situation like the one in 2004, when France, Germany and Italy could not agree on whom to appoint. One of the candidates now shortlisted, Europol's deputy director from Spain, Mariano Carrion, served as interim director between June 2004 and April 2005, until Mr Ratzel could finally take up his office.
Ferenc Banfi from Hungary, currently heading EU's border assistance mission to Moldova and Ukraine, including the non-recognised separatist region of Transnistria, is also in the running.
Founded in 1999 to improve cooperation between national police forces, Europol has no executive powers. It handles criminal intelligence and offers support and expertise to member states, especially in cross-border organised crime investigations.
Last year, member states, the EU commission and parliament decided to transform the Hague-based Europol into an EU agency starting in 2010, and to submit it to parliamentary control. Currently, Europol only reports to the 27 EU ministers for home affairs.
But the efficiency of Europol is open to question. British MPs in November 2008 drew up a report stating that police intelligence across the EU was not shared properly due to lack of trust.
"Only five countries currently automatically load data on to the European information system and in the UK, for instance, they cannot currently take part in it because the British IT data systems are not compatible with Europol's," British MP Michael Jopling told the BBC.
"There is a good deal of lack of trust between the national police forces and Europol because a number of national police forces are not happy that information they may give on a confidential basis will not leak out."
Delays in visa and Schengen systems
Home affairs ministers are also due to discuss different options regarding the upgrade of the Schengen Information System - with Germany and Austria pushing for a decision.
They can either repair the new system, which has technical difficulties but which member states already invested in, or they can start from scratch and upgrade the old system which cannot store biometric data and was initially designed for only 20-30 member states.
The calendar delays with the Schengen system are likely to be repeated with the so-called Visa Information System (VIS), which should have come into force mid-2009 and is now set to be rescheduled for December 2009.
The system provides interconnects the national visa databases of all member states.
Illegal immigration in the Mediterranean and the proposed establishment of an EU asylum support office are also on the agenda of home affairs ministers but no concrete decisions are expected to be taken.
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