Europol

Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union. Its present form rests on Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and the Council of May 11, 2016: "A European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) is hereby established with a view to supporting cooperation among law enforcement authorities in the Union." Under the same article, "Europol as established by this Regulation shall replace and succeed Europol as established by Decision 2009/371/JHA." The regulation applied from May 1, 2017, and provides that "Europol shall have its seat in The Hague."¹

Governance

"The Management Board shall be composed of one representative from each Member State and one representative of the Commission," each with a vote, appointed "taking into account their knowledge of law enforcement cooperation" for renewable terms of four years. The board adopts, "by a majority of two-thirds of its members," the agency's multiannual programming, its annual work programme, and "the annual budget of Europol."¹

"The Executive Director shall manage Europol. He or she shall be accountable to the Management Board." The regulation provides that the Executive Director "shall be independent in the performance of his or her duties and shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or any other body," and "shall be the legal representative of Europol." The Executive Director is responsible for "the day-to-day administration of Europol," for proposals on its internal structures, and for implementing the board's decisions, and does not vote on the board.¹

Budget

Europol's statement of revenue and expenditure for 2024, as amended by amending budget No 3 of October 31, 2024, gave a grand total of 222,835,162 euros, up 390,000 euros from 222,445,162. Subsidies and contributions came to 217,529,505 euros. Staff expenditure under Title 1 totaled 123,122,980 euros.²

European Counter Terrorism Centre

The European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) was launched inside Europol on January 25, 2016, after the Paris attacks of 2015, without new legislation. "The centre will focus on fighting foreign fighters, sharing intelligence and expertise on terrorism financing, online terrorist propaganda, among other areas."³ Europol lists it among its operational centres with the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the European Serious and Organised Crime Centre, the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre, and the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling.⁴

The centre coordinates Project Compass, an operation against The Com and its subgroup 764 launched in January 2025. At its first announcement of results, on February 27, 2026, the operation had produced 30 arrests and the identification of 179 perpetrators and 62 victims, and four victims had been safeguarded, across 28 countries, among them the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.⁵

The ECTC supported the Canadian investigation of Matthew Althorpe and Kristopher Erik Nippak and the Danish investigation of Jeremy Meilhac, members of the Terrorgram Collective. It identified Meilhac's Telegram profiles as among the most influential in the network and described his role as "central and active." Its press release of May 1, 2026, on his conviction noted that "over two dozen Terrorgram cases around the world" had been identified.⁶ On November 25, 2025, the General Commissariat of Information of the Spanish National Police, supported by the ECTC, arrested three suspected members of The Base in Madrid and Valencia in a three-day operation with five house searches; investigators said they had been in contact with Rinaldo Nazzaro.⁷

A 2022 study by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism quoted Europol: "Siege and Accelerationism, both with significant potential for inciting violence, were the most prominent ideologies in 2021, especially attracting young people radicalised online."⁸