In its meeting in Luxembourg 06 April 2009 the Council of the European Union, Justice and Home Affairs, adopted a decision transforming Europol into an EU agency from 01 January 2010. The new agency will have its seat in The Hague, the Netherlands.

After the proposal from the Commission, and having the agreement from the Parliament, the Council adopted a decision on wich Europol will become an EU agency from January 1st, 2010. Within the new legal framework changes can be introduced more rapidly in response to trends in crime since decisions can be taken by majority of two thirds of the Member States. This is a major step forward taking into consideration that it took an average of more than five years to ratify the amending protocols to the Europol Convention.

The work of the Management Board will benefit from the stability provided via longer term of office of the Chair. The chairperson of the Management Board will be selected for a period of eighteen months by and from the group of the three Member States who jointly prepare the Council's eighteen-month programme.

Europol's current direct Member State funding will be replaced by funding via the general budget of the EU. This will make Europol become a full EU body subject to the Financial Regulation and the Staff Regulations of the European Communities. Being financed from the EU budget will increase the budgetary transparency and it will go hand in hand with closer involvement of the European Parliament, notably in its capacity as budgetary authority.

The operational possibilities will be enhanced by the extension of the mandate so that Europol may support Member States investigations into serious crime that is not necessarily thought to be carried out by organised groups e.g. a serial killer operating cross border. Europol will also strengthen its role as the Central Office for combating Euro counterfeiting. Europol will be able to encourage the coordination of measures carried out in order to fight euro counterfeiting by the competent authorities or in the context of Joint Investigation Teams.

In the future Europol will also be able to provide intelligence and analytical support to Member States in connection with major international events.

The fact that Europol will gain flexibility to set up new IT systems, in addition to its information system and analysis work files, will strengthen the capability to support, and better collaborate with the 27 Member States.

The possibility to cooperate with third partners will be facilitated by the Council Decision; additionally, Europol will be able to receive information from private parties and will therefore be able to access new sources of information. Consequently, the amount of data to be analysed will increase and the scope of information exchange widen.

The Council Decision contains the establishment of an Internal Audit Function. This will support the organisation accomplishing its objectives by a systematic approach to evaluate and to improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.

The above mentioned substantive improvements will make Europol's more effective in the area of crime fighting as well as in the field of crime prevention. The improved clarity will also enable Europol to operate with more certainty.

Moreover, due to the expiry of the term of office of the Director of Europol appointed by Council Act of 28 February 2005, Robert Wainwright has been appointed as Director of Europol from 16 April 2009 to 15 April 2013.