| European Commission |
| Commission asks for views on police co-operation The European Commission has begun the process of evaluating the legal framework for law enforcement co-operation in the EU, with a view to proposing new legislation in late 2021. The Commission’s roadmap sets out the options under consideration, including bringing all the relevant legal texts and guidelines into a consolidated legal framework. A public consultation will be launched in the coming months, and the Commission will also work directly with relevant stakeholders to gather views. The roadmap is open for initial comments until 16 November (link).Child sexual abuse ‘overwhelming police’ Police officers are overwhelmed by the scale of child sexual abuse online, Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said at the European Forum on the rights of the child on 1 October (link). The Commission will propose new legislation next year that will compel companies to detect and report known child sexual abuse materials. The Commission will also set up a European Centre to Prevent and Counter Child Sexual Abuse, building on Europol’s work in information-sharing and victim identification.Commission publishes first ‘rule of law’ report The European Commission’s first rule of law report, published on 30 September, raises questions about several EU Member States’ compliance with minimum standards on fundamental principles of the rule of law (link). It is hoped that the report will support the Commission’s efforts to develop a rule of law mechanism, which will identify issues and support Member States to safeguard and protect the rule of law. |
| European Parliament |
| MEPs and German Presidency discuss Europol’s activities Europol’s scrutiny committee, the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group, met on 28 September to discuss Europol’s activities in the past months, focusing on COVID-19, Brexit, the fight against extremism and the future role of Europol (link). Speaking on behalf of the German Presidency, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that information exchange between police officers must remain possible following the UK’s exit from the EU (link). Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson emphasised the important role played by the police, and underlined the need for police to be able to process and share data (link). |
| National updates |
| Other news |
| CoE: Negotiations on EU accession to European Convention on Human Rights resume Talks between the EU and Council of Europe on the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights resumed on 29 September (link).Data shows that employer mainly decides on working time in the EU New data from Eurostat shows that employers determine the start and end time of the working day for the majority of employed people in the EU (link). |
| Look ahead |
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