New Europol head hopes for speedy agreement with Russia

(THE HAGUE) - The new head of Europol said Wednesday the European police agency hoped soon to conclude an agreement with Russia to allow for the sharing of information in joint anti-crime operations.

"As a matter of priority we are in the process of concluding what we term an operational agreement (with Russia)," Rob Wainwright told reporters in The Hague a week after taking over the director's reins.

The agreement "would allow us, for example, to share operational data and therefore collaborate in live operations. This is what I hope we can do in the next few months."

Russia and Europe shared "many criminal patterns and trends," Wainwright said, and improving the ability to tackle organised crime jointly with Russia was a Europol priority.

He could not commit to a more exact timeframe for the agreement, which has been under negotiation for years, but said he did not foresee any "significant obstacles".

"A very important part of our considerations in concluding agreements with any other countries is to satisfy ourselves as to the data protection standards.

"We have a very strong security and data protection regime here in Europol ... and as we therefore share that data with bodies outside the EU, we must also take care that these standards will be the same."

Wainwright said that Europol's mandate was set to expand from January 1 next year, when it becomes a formal EU agency.

Under an EU budget and mandate, Europol would have more powers and responsibilities, he said. It could then investigate "all forms of serious international crime, not just organised crime.

"But also the new legal mandate gives us the opportunity to exchange data or receive data, for the first time, with private industry. Some of this data will be useful to us, for example from the banking sector."

Europol, which has some 620 full-time staff, among them 50-odd terrorism investigators, will celebrate it 10th anniversary on July 1.