92001E2249

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2249/01

by Gianfranco Dell'Alba (TDI) to the Council

(20 July 2001)

Subject: Europol

On 2 June 2001, Europol's offices were searched and one of its officers was questioned by the Dutch police at some length on suspicion of fraud.

In view of the status of Europol which polices other police forces neither the Commission nor Parliament can consider instituting an inquiry.

As a branch of the budgetary authority, it is not acceptable that Parliament should be unable to ascertain the full facts about a case which tarnishes the image of the whole European Union and its institutions, and that it should have to make do with gleaning information from the press.

Does not the Council agree that this anomaly ought to be corrected and that the Court of Auditors and the European Parliament, in their respective roles, ought to be assigned powers of supervision over such bodies as Europol?

Has the Council instituted inquiries to ascertain whether fraud has been committed against the Community budget?

Reply

(27 November 2001)

1. The Honourable Member of the European Parliament is informed that Europol presently is financed by the Member States and thus not financed from the Community budget. Therefore direct fraud against the Community budget is excluded. In as far as it has been alleged that fraud was committed in the framework of Community programmes, it is the task of the Commission bodies (for instance OLAF) to further investigate the issue.

2. The system of Member State financing is laid down in the Europol Convention. Any amendment of this system would require the Convention to be amended which in turn requires a ratification procedure in all Member States.

3. The Europol Convention lays down a thorough system of financial controls, which include an independent financial controller and a joint audit committee, composed of members of the Court of Auditors. So although the Court of Auditors is not directly competent to supervise Europol, Europol has in place effective financial controls.

4. It should be noted that the alleged irregularities referred to in the question of the Honourable Member of the European Parliament have been discovered by the financial controller. On the basis of his report the Europol Management Board set up a committee which has further investigated the issue. The financial controls in the Europol framework have therefore proved to be effective.

5. The Members of the Council are informed, through their national representatives in the Management Board of Europol of the findings of this committee.

6. Given that Europol on the basis of the information that came to light informed the competent Dutch public prosecutor of the alleged irregularities and that the public prosecutor thereupon has started criminal investigations against one official of the Staff of Europol, the Council considers it inappropriate to take any action which might interfere with these investigations.