Europolice will be a Union agency funded by the EU budget

Europol will be a Union agency funded by the EU budget. The European Parliament is already calling for the Council Decision to be revised within a period of six months following the Lisbon Treaty’s entry into force, as it will have a greater say on decision-making (co-decision powers). These encroaching powers will not work in the UK’s favour.
Under the terms of Lisbon, Europol will vastly extend its own powers and Member States will no longer be able to block any further extension of powers. Presently, the Europol Convention amendments are decided by the Council acting unanimously after consulting the European Parliament. It is amended through protocols which are then ratified by national Parliaments. Hence, national parliaments do have some influence over the content of a Protocol and can block its ratification. When the Europol Convention is replaced by a Council decision, rules governing Europol will be amended by Council decisions unanimously adopted but national ratification is not required. Therefore, such aspects will be defined by secondary legislation rather than by Protocols amending the Convention. The Lisbon Treaty puts forward some tasks that Europol will have in the future – it is clear that the list is not exhaustive and also that Member States will no longer be able to block further extension of Europol powers. However, while The Treaty does offer some attempt to provide scrutiny of Europol it falls drastically short of the kind of scrutiny needed for it to be an actual European police force as demanded in the Treaty provisions. This provision must be completely rejected.