Samenvatting

The task of the European Police Office (Europol) is to provide a support service for the national agencies of European Member States. Aside from collecting and exchanging intelligence, Europol cooperates with Member States on counter-terrorism actions by establishing National Units and Joint Investigation Teams. Its current mandate, Regulation 2016/794, is the successor of Council Decision 2009/371/JHA, which serves as Europol’s legal basis. This study provides an answer to how this Regulation supports Europol in its counter-terrorism actions. The central research question of this study is: “How does Regulation 2016/794 facilitate Europol’s task of establishing counter-terrorist units?” The research design of this study is predominantly qualitative. In terms of secondary data, EU publications, literature, policy evaluations, and reports were gathered. For primary data, three interviews were conducted with experts in the field of counter-terrorism and European Security. The results show that EU counter-terrorism policy has developed over the years due to major terrorist attacks, such as 9/11, and major attacks in European cities. As counter-terrorism policies changed, the functions of Europol have likewise developed. With the introduction of Regulation 2016/794, Europol’s competences have increased with the provision of new rules on data-processing. These rules contribute to the function of Europol: it continually updates and develops new information systems that help to track terrorist activities. Moreover, the regulation gives Europol the ability, when required, to compel Member States to establish an investigation. Although it tends to be complicated and somewhat premature to measure the practical impact of this regulation, this impact can in fact be demonstrated: for example, Europol has since been involved in more terrorist attacks, in terms of prevention and analysis. On the other hand, a case-study regarding the evaluation of the 2017 Barcelona attacks indicates that, although Europol has improved, there remains the potential for improving the European Union’s counter-terrorism policy, in terms of interoperability and counter-radicalization. To conclude, the findings of this study suggest that Regulation 2016/794 facilitates Europol’s task of establishing counter-terrorist units as it grants Europol the ability to effectively gather and exchange information. As such, the regulation encourages further cooperation between Europol and Member States on counter-terrorism activities through Europol’s acquired capability to initiate Europol National Units and Joint Investigation Teams. As Europol’s functions are constantly improving, this study recommends that it should maintain its efforts to develop databases that help to detect and counter terrorist activity.