On 26 June 2026, the European Commission published a staff working document accompanying a proposal for a new Europol Regulation, aiming to overhaul the agency's mandate and tools to tackle transnational, tech-enabled serious crime and terrorism. The document, now transmitted to the Council for examination, identifies persistent information gaps and fragmented operational support as key problems, and proposes a combination of targeted improvements and structural evolution.
The preferred option includes mandatory data-sharing obligations for Member States, automated data-loader tools, ICT upgrades, authorised access to national data, establishment of Europol Support Offices in Member States, and systematic partnership with the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The estimated total costs for 2028-2034 amount to EUR 590 million for Member States and EUR 789 million for Europol, with one-off costs of approximately EUR 255 million and EUR 240 million respectively, and annual recurring costs of EUR 48 million and EUR 78 million. Expected savings from shared Union-level infrastructures are estimated at EUR 42 million. The proposal also strengthens the data protection framework with detailed rules on data environments, processing regimes, access conditions, logging, storage periods and oversight.
The Council is scheduled to discuss the proposal at its meeting on 9 July 2026. The reform represents a major upgrade to Europol's role, embedding the agency more deeply into national investigations while requiring significant investment from both Member States and the agency itself. Stakeholders impacted include national law enforcement authorities, which will face new data-sharing obligations and costs but gain improved access to cross-border intelligence; Europol, which will see expanded operational capacity and resources; the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which will benefit from systematic partnership; and civil society, which will see enhanced data protection safeguards. The European Parliament will also need to approve the regulation as part of the ordinary legislative procedure.