What the agreement with EUROPOL brings: Will BiH get another police agency

Bosnia and Herzegovina should have full strategic and operational cooperation with the European Police Office (EUROPOL) from September. Minister of Security of BiH Dragan Mektić was supposed to sign this important agreement in The Hague already in July, but the signing has been postponed to September, Patria writes.

EUROPOL is the criminal intelligence agency of the European Union. It began full operations in 1999. It assists national police authorities in the fight against serious international crime and terrorism in European Union member states. Simply put, EUROPOL contributes to the security of Europe.

If the agreement between EUROPOL and BiH comes to life at full capacity, it means that all operational data of European police forces will be available to Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. This operational data concerns terrorism, drug crime, car mafia, human trafficking, cybercrime and other forms of crime, including personal data. BiH will have the obligation to provide the same operational data to colleagues from EUROPOL, i.e., to the police forces of EUROPOL member states.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in the region that has not yet signed an operational agreement with EUROPOL. Croatia signed the agreement much earlier, followed by Serbia, Montenegro and other countries of Southeast Europe.
It is true that there is strategic cooperation between our country and the European Police Office, within which information of a strategic and technical nature is exchanged, but this exchange does not include the exchange of much more important - personal data.

Warnings from the DKPT

There is just over two months left until the signing of the agreement between BiH and EUROPOL. However, no one yet knows how cooperation between BiH and the European Police Office will specifically proceed after September. Experts in this field welcome the signing of the agreement, but the one that Mektić is supposed to sign in The Hague could significantly complicate cooperation between the European Police Office and BiH.

At the beginning of December 2014, negotiations were held between BiH and EUROPOL. During these negotiations, the text of the Agreement that Mektić is taking to The Hague was harmonized. The BiH negotiating team consisted of experts from the Ministry of Security of BiH, members of entity Ministries of Interior, police members from Brčko, SIPA, the Border Police and a representative of the DKPT.

Even then, the representative of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH gave a separate opinion regarding the designation of the national contact point between BiH and EUROPOL. The contact point is the police agency in BiH through which EUROPOL will cooperate with our country.

According to the Agreement that Mektić will sign, this contact point should be at the address Trg Bosne i Hercegovine 1 in Sarajevo. Such a decision was made by the Council of Ministers of BiH on December 11, 2013. So, Mektić inherited such a decision. However, it is clear that the Council of Ministers of BiH is located at that address, but no police agency.

In the opinion provided by the DKPT, it is stated that the joint contact point for BiH cannot be Trg Bosne i Hercegovine 1, 71 000 Sarajevo, but that it should be the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH at the address Aleja Bosne Srebrene bb. The Council of Ministers of BiH did not accept such an opinion.

The opinion lists several reasons why the contact point between BiH and EUROPOL should be the DKPT. First of all, BiH laws require that cooperation between EUROPOL and BiH be conducted through this Directorate. These are the Law on Ministries and Other Administrative Bodies of BiH, the Law on the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies and Agencies for Support to the Police Structure of BiH, and the laws of BiH police agencies.

The opinion also states that a different decision would be contrary to the platform for BiH's negotiations with EUROPOL, adopted by the Presidency of BiH, and would also be contrary to EU standards and best EU practices.

Furthermore, EUROPOL also requires one national contact point in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And, in accordance with existing laws, this should be the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH.
A Department for Cooperation with EUROPOL has also been established within the Directorate. Equipment has been installed. The EUROPOL communication channel - SIENA – has been operational for a long time. Simply put, EUROPOL already cooperates with BiH precisely through the Directorate.

Practically, this should look like this: EUROPOL sends a request for specific information to the Directorate, which forwards it to the competent police agency in BiH. After collecting the operational information, the police agency returns the information to the Directorate, and from the Directorate, the response is sent to EUROPOL.

Will the new agreement complicate cooperation between EUROPOL and BiH?

BiH has two options after signing the Agreement with EUROPOL in September. One is to seek, through diplomatic channels, a change to Annex II of the Agreement, by which the national contact point for EUROPOL would be moved from Trg BiH 1 to the DKPT, i.e., to the address Aleja Bosne Srebrene bb. Because it is already too late for changes to the harmonized text of the Agreement. Or, for BiH to form a new police agency at the address Trg Bosne i Hercegovine 1. And forming a new police agency would mean creating a police agency with similar competencies as the DKPT, but also additional millions of KM from the state budget.

The Director of the DKPT, Mirsad Vilić, told Patria that it is very important for BiH to sign the agreement with EUROPOL in September. However, he expects that the national contact point of Bosnia and Herzegovina with EUROPOL will be returned from Trg Bosne i Hercegovine 1 to the Directorate.