authorising the opening of negotiations for an agreement between the European Union and the Lebanese Republic on the exchange of personal data between the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the Lebanese competent authorities for fighting serious crime and terrorism

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE RECOMMENDATION

In the globalised world where serious crime and terrorism are increasingly transnational and polyvalent, law enforcement authorities should be fully equipped to cooperate with external partners to ensure the security of their citizens. Europol should therefore be able to exchange personal data with law enforcement authorities of third countries to the extent necessary for the accomplishment of its tasks.

Since the entry into application of Regulation 2016/794 on 1 May 2017 and pursuant to the Treaty, the Commission is responsible, on behalf of the Union, for negotiating international agreements with third countries for the exchange of personal data with Europol. In so far as necessary for the performance of its tasks, Europol may establish and maintain cooperative relations with external partners through working and administrative arrangements that cannot by themselves be a legal basis for the exchange of personal data.

Taking into account the political strategy as outlined in the European Agenda on Security, Council Conclusions, and the Global Strategy, the operational needs of law enforcement authorities across the EU, and the potential benefits of closer cooperation in this area, the Commission considers it necessary to start negotiations in the short-term with eight countries, as identified in the 11th progress report towards a genuine and effective Security Union.

The Commission has made its assessment of priority countries taking into account Europol's operational needs. The Europol Strategy 2016-2020 identifies the Mediterranean region as priority for enhanced partnerships. The Europol External Strategy 2017-2020 also stresses the need for closer cooperation between Europol and the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) due to the current terrorist threat and migration-related challenges.

Europol does not have any agreements in place with any of the countries in this region.

This Recommendation specifically concerns negotiations with Lebanon, although cooperation with any MENA country needs to be seen in the context of the region as a whole. The current instability in the region, especially the situation in Syria and Iraq, presents a significant long-term security threat to the EU that needs to be addressed urgently. This concerns both the effective fight against terrorism and related organised crime, and migration-related challenges such as the facilitation of irregular migration and trafficking in human beings. Cooperation with local law enforcement is critical to addressing these challenges.

On the basis of technical dialogues to define common actions to improve exchange of information and joint law enforcement operational action against firearms trafficking, the EU has already agreed with Lebanon a list of actions to enhance EU-MENA cooperation among relevant law enforcement agencies, ensure capacity-building assistance in relevant regional and/or bilateral programmes and develop operational actions under a commonly agreed framework. Lebanon has also demonstrated its interest in cooperating on counter terrorism with EU law enforcement, notably with the training provided by CEPOL. This does not, however, cover the transfer of personal data.

Political context

The EU and Lebanon are key partners that face common challenges linked to protracted crises and instability in the neighbourhood. The EU-Lebanon partnership is strong and across many sectors as defined by the Association Agreement which is in force since 2006. Lebanon is facing difficult economic, social and security challenges. Adding to pre-existing weaknesses, the conflict in Syria intensified pressure on Lebanon’s institutions, infrastructure and environment and affected its socio-economic stability. Lebanon hosts more than one million registered Syrian refugees in addition to the approximately 300,000 Palestinian refugees that were already in the country.

On 11 November 2016, the EU and Lebanon adopted Partnership Priorities for the years 2016-2020 setting an ambitious strategic agenda for deepening ties and achieving the stabilisation of the country and the wider region as outlined by the revised European Neighbourhood Policy and the EU Global Strategy. The priorities identified are: security and countering terrorism, governance and the rule of law, fostering growth and job opportunities, and migration and mobility.

The EU and Lebanon also agreed on a Compact containing mutual commitments and priority actions in line with the Statement of Intent made at last year's London Conference (Feb 2016) The renewed commitments taken on the occasion of Brussels Conference (5th April 2017) on supporting the future of Syria and the region reinforced these shared responsibilities on addressing the impact of the Syrian crisis.

Lebanon has already expressed interest in negotiating an agreement with Europol on several occasions, notably in the context of the Counter-Terrorism (CT) Dialogue on 26 January 2016 and the agreed roadmap.

CT/Security dialogue is ongoing with Lebanon, with an Action Plan covering the development of a national CT strategy, law enforcement and judicial cooperation, countering the financing of terrorism, border management, airport and aviation security as well as countering violent extremism.

Operational needs

Based on data in the SOCTA 2017 and TE-SAT 2017, the above discussions, as well as, inter alia, Europol's in-house expert knowledge, cooperation with Lebanon is needed in particular to counter the following crime phenomena:

Terrorism: The destabilisation of Syria (and its potential spill-over), the spread of Da'esh and other designated terrorist groups pose a direct security threat to Lebanon and the EU, which have both been targeted by terrorist groups. European and Lebanese terrorists have notably travelled to Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones to train and fight.

Closer law enforcement cooperation, including the exchange of personal data, will contribute to detect and prosecute terrorist suspects, prevent terrorism travel (including the risk of infiltration of migratory flows or relocation to other conflict areas) and terrorism financing (including the nexus with organised crime).