Helsinki, Finland 18/7/2019
The past 5 years, owing mostly to the numerous terrorist attacks, have seen a massive expansion of our common security initiatives.
The building blocks of an effective and genuine Security Union are now in place.
Now we have to focus on full implementation of what we have agreed: we need consolidation before further expansion.
On PNR, firearms, terrorism crimes, cybersecurity, money laundering:
let us finish the job we started, and put the rules in place.
This is not to say that we should not be ambitious to deepen further this Security Union.
The context of this discussion is a changing institutional landscape, with a new Parliament and Commission this year, but also a new financial framework under discussion.
Closer operational cooperation is a necessity in a Security Union and we have always been strong proponents of it.
Instead, we have a patchy landscape of BI- TRI- and MULTI- lateral agreements. Gaps in implementation.
Legal impediments and a reticence to overcome them.
Technical obstacles, under-investment in modern equipment.
Our Schengen Evaluations come up again and again with similar conclusions.
We need to draw the lessons and realise that investing in improving operational cooperation is an investment in our security.
Legislation is only one aspect, which I am sure the new Commission will look at very closely.
The series of workshops we have launched in this area between now and March will look at all these aspects.
But workshops by themselves will not improve cooperation without political will.
We also need to be ready to show more trust and take bold steps to overcome old taboos.
Technology – both the security threats but also the opportunities from it – requires a new triangle of cooperation between authorities, researchers, and the private sector.
On information management, automation, interoperability and technical tools that facilitate the exchange of information between our authorities are the key to success.
We launched a study on how to modernise the existing “Prüm” framework and assess the possibilities for exchanging police records data at EU level.
On the JHA security Agencies, you know I have pushed for the einforcement of Europol and the radical transformation of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency since day 1 in this job.
And I will not stop until my last day: your expectations from our Agencies are growing, and I could only welcome that.
These agencies are the very essence of the European approach to security.
But we cannot only demand and not give something back.
The MFF negotiations are the moment to endow the agencies sufficiently to respond to your needs.
Talk to your colleagues in the Finance Ministries.
Explain to them what value you derive from Europol.
Tell them that without resources, it will be next to impossible for Europol to respond to your needs on terrorist content online, on financial crime, on decryption, on terrorism financing.
These demands from your authorities will only increase.
So should your expectations.
But first, let’s make sure they have the right resources to do their job with.