Almost every EU member state agreed upon the fact that the regulation of the European Police College (CEPOL) should be independent from Europol and should have its own legal foundations.

This agreement and a referral to the European Commission have been pre-requisites of the EU decision on the planned translocation of CEPOL from Great Britain to Hungary.

The agreement on separate regulation was necessary because the European Commission had previously proposed the merger of the two organisations. The proposal was however declined by both the European Parliament and the European Council.

The European Parliament is ready to decide about the necessary legal documents in connection with CEPOLS’s relocation to Budapest before the end of the current parliamentary term. Elections will be held in May and before the summer break the issues of the representatives will be put on the agenda. At the same time, CEPOL should already begin the new school year in September in Budapest.

European Commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmström acknowledged the claim for the separate regulation of Europol and CEPOL, and promised to work on the necessary legal background. She added, however, that financial issues must be reconsidered in accordance with the new situation.

(Ministry of Interior)