Minister of Interior Sándor Pinter addressed European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on Monday and presented Hungary's bid to host the European Police College (CEPOL).

Hungary's proposal has already been endorsed by the European Council, which called the tender to relocate CEPOL from its current location at Bramshill House in England, which will soon be sold. EU Interior Ministers unanimously supported Budapest's bid to host CEPOL at a meeting on October 8. Hungary's bid is in line with objective requirements set by the EU for decentralised agencies, the Hungarian ministry said earlier. CEPOL would be the first EU agency to locate to Hungary. The country has outstanding international teaching experience in the area of police cooperation, and this helped its bid, the ministry added.

The British government will house CEPOL at Bramshill until August 31, 2014. By this date, Budapest will be ready to host the college, the Ministry added. The institution will be managed by a staff of 30-50, including teachers, but the number of those involved in training the students will vary. The Budapest centre will be mainly responsible for training mentors, who will teach people in other member states, and there will be also operative trainings, Minister Pintér added. The main task of the agency is to provide unified postgraduate training courses for police officers, and Minister Pintér also emphasised the importance of CEPOL courses with relation to combating organised crime. CEPOL’s current head is also Hungarian – retired Police General Ferenc Bánfi, who is serving his second term in this position.

(Ministry of Interior)