EU halts talks with Israel on police intelligence-sharing agreement
After signing a draft of a cooperation agreement between Europol and Israeli Police, the political leadership of the European Union is now backing away from the agreement.
The European Commission decided to halt talks on a cooperation agreement between Israel and Europol, it was revealed this week. Jerusalem and Brussels have been discussing in the past year an agreement for sharing intelligence between Europol and Israeli Police.
On Sept. 14, Israel’s envoy to the European Union Haim Regev and representative of the European Commission signed a statement of the completion of negotiations, for the exchange of information on terrorism and serious crimes. For the agreement to be fully adopted, it requires an approval by the Council of the European Union (ministerial level) and ratification by the European Parliament. It now seems that the commission is backing away from the proposed agreement, estimating that in its current drafting it will not receive the approval of the council or the European Parliament.
