EU faces criticism over secret data-sharing talks with Israel and Europol expansion plans

The European Commission faces intense criticism over two major policing initiatives: a secret agreement to share sensitive biometric and genetic data with Israel's police, and a €3 billion expansion plan to turn Europol into a continent-wide intelligence hub. The European Data Protection Supervisor warned on August 13, 2026, that the Europol proposal fails to protect non-suspects' biometric data. Meanwhile, legal experts warn the Israel deal could facilitate military surveillance against Palestinians.

Europol expansion proposal

• ▪The proposed Europol expansion would double Europol's budget to €3 billion (approximately $3.47 billion USD) between 2028 and 2034 and double its staff.
• ▪The European Commission's June 24, 2026 proposal aims to rebuild Europol as a continent-wide intelligence hub, establishing a "Police Shared Data Space" and a "Europol Analytical Environment."
• ▪The June 24, 2026 Europol proposal would allow private entities, including cloud providers, to access Europol's analytical environment through a sovereign cloud infrastructure.
• ▪The June 24, 2026 Europol proposal would relax "Data Subject Categorization" requirements, allowing the processing of biometric data without first classifying individuals as suspects, witnesses, or victims.

EDPS data protection objections

• ▪In Opinion 18/2026, published on August 13, 2026, the European Data Protection Supervisor declared that the European Commission's Europol expansion proposal fails to protect the biometric data of non-suspects.
• ▪The European Data Protection Supervisor objected to a provision in the June 24, 2026 Europol proposal allowing Europol to bypass standard oversight if Europol itself deems a data processing operation "urgent and necessary."
• ▪The European Data Protection Supervisor warned that the June 24, 2026 Europol proposal transfers some independent oversight functions to Europol's own internal Data Protection Officer.

EU-Israel police data-sharing negotiations

• ▪The draft EU-Israel police agreement builds on a narrower 2018 arrangement that explicitly excluded personal data sharing and the occupied Palestinian territories.
• ▪The European Commission has been negotiating a secret agreement to share sensitive personal data, including biometric and genetic information, with Israel's police service, according to a Statewatch report.

Palestinian surveillance risks

• ▪Although the draft EU-Israel agreement attempts to exclude occupied territories, it contains broad exceptions for "imminent danger to life" and general crime prevention that experts call too vague.
• ▪Human rights experts and lawyers warn that personal data shared under the proposed EU-Israel agreement could feed into military surveillance systems used against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Legal challenges to agreements

• ▪The European Data Protection Supervisor is appealing a September 2023 General Court dismissal to the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the legality of the 2022 Europol reform.
• ▪A 2022 ruling by the Council of the European Union's Legal Service deemed the proposed EU-Israel police data-sharing agreement legally untenable.

Biometric data retention concerns

• ▪Civil liberties groups, including the Protect Not Surveil coalition, warned that the lack of robust categorization in the June 24, 2026 Europol proposal risks exposing any citizen's biometric data to cross-border law enforcement queries.
• ▪The European Data Protection Supervisor warned that the June 24, 2026 Europol proposal lacks defined data retention periods, potentially allowing indefinite storage of biometric data for individuals with no criminal connection.

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