# EUR-Lex - 52014DC0007 - EN

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# 52014DC0007

**COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Opinion of the Commission on the initiative for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending Decision 2005/681/JHA establishing the European Police College (CEPOL) presented by Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden /* COM/2014/07 final */**

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

Opinion of the Commission on the
initiative for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending
Decision 2005/681/JHA establishing the European Police College (CEPOL)
presented by

Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech
Republic, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden

Title of the initiative:             Initiative
for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending Decision
2005/681/JHA establishing the European Police College (CEPOL)

The proposal was formally introduced on: 4 December 2013

Legal basis:    The initiative is based
on Article 87(2)(b) TFEU, which provides for the ordinary legislative
procedure, and is presented by a group of twenty-five Member States therefore
fulfilling the condition of being presented by a group of at least a quarter of
the Member States of the European Union in conformity with Article 76(b) TFEU.

Status of the procedure:       Awaiting
first reading by European Parliament

General appreciation:

The initiative
taken by the Member States is presented as translating into legal terms the
political agreement reached by the JHA Council on 8 October 2013 to provisionally
relocate the seat of CEPOL from Bramshill (UK) to Budapest (HU), further to the
announcement by the United Kingdom in December 2012 of its decision to close
the Bramshill site in 2014.

The choice of
Budapest as a new CEPOL provisional location was made by a specific voting
arrangement proposed by the Presidency and accepted by the Member States, under
the item "Provisional arrangements to host CEPOL" during the JHA
Council lunch on 8 October. It was based on the 7 applications submitted further
to the Council Presidency's call in July 2013 for applications to provisionally
host the European Police College until a long-term solution for the future of
the Agency is found.

The Member
States submitting candidatures were Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy, Hungary, The Netherlands and Finland. Finland subsequently withdrew its application.

The political
agreement was confirmed at the JHA Council meeting on the same day, 8 October.

However, first
of all, the Commission notes that the draft Regulation amending the CEPOL
Decision does not refer to the provisional relocation of the seat of CEPOL and
therefore it does not implement the abovementioned political agreement, but
goes much further.

In that regard,
the Member States' initiative is in direct opposition to the Commission's
proposal for the Europol Regulation, including the merger of CEPOL into
Europol, which has been and remains on the table since 27 March 2013.

The Commission's
proposal is driven by the aim of addressing, in a comprehensive manner, ways to
improve effectiveness in police cooperation and training. It is designed to achieve
functional synergies and cost savings, in line with the overall goal of the proposed
reform and in accordance with the recommendations set out in the Common
Approach on decentralised agencies, endorsed by the three institutions. This is
why the issue of CEPOL's seat should not be considered in isolation from this
broader context of a functional and operational reform that would match the
goals of rationalisation and operational improvement for both agencies.

In the same
context, the Commission notes that the impact assessment attached to the
initiative consists only of the elaboration of costs and benefits of one single
solution, i.e. the relocation of CEPOL to Budapest, without taking into account
and comparing it to the costs savings resulting from the proposed merger by the
Commission of CEPOL into Europol or other alternative solutions.

The Commission further
notes the adverse budgetary effects of a double move and notes that the necessary
additional funding would need to come from the existing budget envelope, which
means that those funds could not be used for other purposes.

Conclusion

The Commission therefore
gives a negative opinion to the Member States' initiative.

Furthermore,
the Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to avoid any
adverse budgetary effects of a solution that would not achieve functional synergies
and cost savings and would not be in line with the recommendations set out in
the Common Approach on decentralised agencies endorsed by the 3 institutions.

Should this Initiative
be pursued, the Commission would be obliged to make a Declaration, at the time
of its adoption, on the provisional nature of this Regulation, its adverse
budgetary effects and the necessity of not prejudging the outcome of
discussions on the Commission's own Proposal. In that regard, the Commission encourages
the European Parliament and the Council to build on the constructive progress
that is being made on its proposal to reform Europol’s legal framework while
reflecting on an alternative solution to co-locate CEPOL and Europol that would
match the goals of rationalisation and operational improvement for both
agencies.