EU police agencies reject cost-cutting merger

The European police college Cepol and the EU police agency Europol both formally rejected on 7 May 2013 a proposal by the European Commission to merge the two in a cost cutting measure.

Europol says the merger would affect its capacity to fight serious crime on top of its latest responsibilities to run the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).

But the European Commission in its draft proposal in March 2013 says the merger would save an estimated €17.2 million between 2015-2020 and create 'synergies and efficiency gains.'

• Primary Source

EUObserver, 18.02.13: Merger of EU police agencies draws opposition http://euobserver.com/justice/119105

ESO: Background Information: Europol: Sharp rise in EU terror attacks and deaths in 2012 http://www.europeansources.info/record/europol-sharp-rise-in-eu-terror-attacks-and-deaths-in-2012/

European Commission: Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation and Training (Europol) and repealing Decisions 2009/371/JHA and 2005/681/JHA (March 2013) http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/police-cooperation/europol-cepol/docs/law_enforcement_training_scheme_proposal_en.pdf

European Commission: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions establishing a European Law Enforcement Training Scheme (March 2013) http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/police-cooperation/europol-cepol/docs/law_enforcement_training_scheme_en.pdf

European Commission: RAPID: Press Release, IP/13/284: Europol: The EU hub for support to law enforcement cooperation and training http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-284_en.pdf

---