Following the European Parliament’s vote on 16 April 2014 to amend Decision 2005/681/JHA establishing the European Police College (CEPOL), changing the seat from Bramshill to Budapest and the Council of Ministers vote on 6 May 2014, also in favour for the change, CEPOL and Hungarian authorities have completed formalities and yesterday signed the new CEPOL headquarters agreement at a small official ceremony in Budapest.
A new seat for CEPOL was needed after the United Kingdom decided to sell the site of their College of Policing where CEPOL were hosted. EU Member States were offered the opportunity to host CEPOL and a number of applications were considered before Budapest was selected, reflecting the need to ensure the capacity to deliver future strategic plans while offering best value for the taxpayer.
The agreement signed by Dr Sándor Pintér the Hungarian Minister of Interior and CEPOL Director, Dr Ferenc Bánfi, outlines the details for the provision of the new seat and the responsibilities for both parties.
Following the ceremony, Minister Pintér said: “it is a great pleasure that the role of Budapest as a law enforcement training centre is further strengthened by the movement of CEPOL to Hungary".
Dr Bánfi added: “it has been hard work preparing CEPOL and its staff for this move in such a short timescale. However, we are very pleased with the progress we have made and are delighted at the prospect of working in such a beautiful city with our new Hungarian hosts”.
The newly refurbished office building will provide CEPOL with not only a new base of operations but also a large conference and training facility in the heart of Budapest. The terms of the agreement means that Budapest will be CEPOL’s home for at least the next 10 years.
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Note for editors : the new headquarters agreement will next need to be ratified by the Hungarian parliament before it can come into force. This is expected to happen in the very near future.
