§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider that there should be effective judicial remedies for the misuse of the powers conferred by the Europol Convention upon the police in every member state of the European Union; and, if so, whether they will undertake to ratify the convention only if such remedies can be secured to everyone within the jurisdiction of every member state.
§ Baroness BlatchEuropol will be a central co-ordinating body within the European Union for the exchange and analysis of criminal intelligence. It will not have any operational powers. The Europol Convention does not confer additional operational powers on member states' police forces, whose actions will remain subject to domestic law.
§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider it satisfactory that the European Court of Justice should have uneven jurisdiction in regard to the member states in interpreting and applying the Europol Convention; and
Whether they consider that the Europol Convention should be applied on a uniform and consistent basis in all the member states of the European Union.
§ Baroness BlatchWe are content with the arrangements that have been agreed. Individual member states' engagement with Europol will be regulated by their national law. It has always been our view that any disputes would be satisfactorily resolved at a domestic level, without the need for the European Court of Justice to be involved. However, other member states felt that it would be helpful to their courts to be able to seek preliminary rulings from the European Court of Justice. We have accordingly agreed an optional protocol under which those member states who wish to may provide for references to the court.