Europol Strategy adopted by Management Board – “Delivering Security in Partnership”
The Europol Management Board has now adopted the Agency’s updated corporate strategy. The document, entitled “Delivering Security in Partnership”, came about following an extensive consultation of Member States and partners. Europol’s new mandate, a number of key policy developments, and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine meant the Agency had to reconsider its strategic direction.
Six strategic objectives
The new strategy now includes six strategic objectives:
- be the EU criminal information hub;
- deliver agile, real-time operational support;
- be at the forefront of law enforcement operational support;
- provide a platform for European policing solutions;
- be the model EU organisation for law enforcement cooperation;
- bring the relevant partners together for cross-border cooperation and joint action.
New and enhanced partnerships
A new strategic objective has been added: bringing relevant partners together for cross-border cooperation and joint action. On this aspect of the strategy, Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle stated:
This additional objective emphasises Europol’s important remit in this respect. It reflects the important and crucial role our partners want us to take up. To make Europe safer, we want to excel as a criminal intelligence hub and as the operational support centre our partners need today.
According to the new objective, partnerships in a broader sense will be a priority on Europol’s agenda. In addition to the Member States, Schengen associated countries and third countries will be essential partners, together with the Agencies in the area of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). Private parties, including companies, academia, NGOs, and research institutes, will be key collaborators too. Interpol will continue to be an important bridge towards countries around the world with which Europol has no cooperation arrangements in place.
Strengthening Europol’s operational relevance for Member States
Europol is preparing for a huge increase in users in the Member States. To manage this increase in demand, it will develop meaningful self-service products and services, and facilitate easy access. In addition, in order to deliver where it can make the biggest operational difference, Europol will focus on three priorities:
- supporting large, real-time investigations;
- offering specialised expertise, such as cryptocurrency tracing;
- providing high-end technical assistance, through the decryption platform.
