Debate: Automated data exchange for police cooperation
Date: WEDNESDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2024
Speaker: Ylva Johansson
Language: EN

To me, it’s clear, organised crime is as big, big a threat to society as terrorism. We have to counter this threat with all the means at our disposal. We have achieved much more on security than we intended four years ago when we started this mandate.  Most recently, the Commission launched the European Ports Alliance, a public private partnership in the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking. A key step was the new mandate we gave Europol. A new mandate to meet the new challenges of our time. To better support Member States’ police, because police cooperation and information exchange are at the heart of the fight against organised crime. After all, it takes a network to fight a network.  That is also why I welcome the agreement by Parliament and Council on the updated Prüm framework. This is the third and final pillar in our police cooperation package, after the Council recommendation on operational police cooperation and a directive on Law Enforcement Information Exchange. Prüm is an important tool for police officers on the ground to check if a suspect in front of them is known for crimes in other Member States, and essential to stop dangerous criminals. Some examples: after a knife attack in The Hague, police found DNA on the knife. A check showed French police had matching DNA on record, allowing the suspect to be arrested. After robberies of cash machines in Estonia, police found DNA on the scene. A check showed several Member States had matching profiles. The criminal group could be dismantled and the leaders arrested. Or petty thefts against tourists in France. A check for fingerprints revealed a pan-European organised crime network that was also involved in a much more serious crime of trafficking in human beings.  We have now modernised the 15 year old Prüm framework with Prüm II, to speed up and improve police information exchange and bring it up to date. Now police still have to make checks against all other Member States databases. In the future, police will only have to make one single check covering all Member States, thanks to a new central router. And we are also making new kinds of checks possible. Today, police can already check if there are hits on fingerprints, car number plates and DNA. In future, police will also be able to check for hits on police records and facial images, thanks to this agreement. And that is an important update not only to catch criminals, but also to find missing people. Missing children, because in the last 15 years, digital photos have become much more important in police investigations. Often, facial images are the only leads police have.  Other essential update: Europol will take part in the data exchange. This is essential because Europol is at the heart of police cooperation in the European Union.  I would like to specially thank the rapporteur, Paolo Rangel and the shadows for their work. I thank Parliament and Council for reaching this balanced compromise. A game changer for law enforcement. Tomorrow, when you vote on this, will be a good day for citizens and a bad day for criminals. Tomorrow your vote will make Europe a safer place and you can be proud of that.