Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Technology

"The agreement identifies in general the areas in which the two agencies will work together. Most of the cooperation with Europol probably will happen in the field of IT," Mailis Pukonen, head of department at eu-LISA, told BNS on April 7th.

As one topic, she highlighted the mobile app of the Schengen information system (SIS 2), which is expected to be of big help in increasing the EU internal security. A mobile app would make it possible to check third country nationals entering the EU considerably faster than so far, regardless of the availability of a fixed network.

"It also has to do with the implementation of the new air passenger booking information system, PNR, on the European level – we would engage in cooperation with Europol to be able to work out a comprehensive solution," Pukonen said. She said that while the member states are obliged by a directive to come up with a Passenger Name Record (PNR) system, the IT agency in collaboration with Europol could offer a standard uniform solution.

In addition come various areas of training where eu-LISA sees cooperation with Europol as necessary, the departmental head at eu-LISA said.

"We've charted very concrete practical steps for ourselves where the two agencies could be working together in the future," Pukonen said.

More detailed cooperation plans will be set out in annual plans to be drawn up on the basis of the framework agreement, Pukonen added.