Prüm II and the EPRIS Index in Europe: An Attempt to Balance People's Security and Privacy?

In Europe, organised crime, which is increasingly globalised and operates across borders, often involving many nationalities. Organized crime groups often reflect the societies, cultures, and value systems from which they come. Just as societies across Europe are becoming increasingly interconnected and have an international perspective, so too is organised crime connected and active internationally. Therefore, the fight against this form of crime, both national and cross-border, requires day-to-day operational cooperation, as well as an exchange of information between the law enforcement authorities of the European Member States. To effectively combat crime, police authorities must be able to exchange data in a timely manner. In this way, the EU approved in 2021 a package of reforms, which foster cross-border police cooperation and the new Prüm II Regulation approved by the European Parliament in March 2024 with the aim of promoting security for all in Europe. This Regulation, which, among other things, provides for the automated exchange of DNA profiles, dactyloscopic data, vehicle registration data, automated exchanges of facial images and police records, should put an end to the information gaps of previous regulatory measures, and thus increase the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences in the EU. However, through an examination of the main provisions of the Regulation, the Author will analyze the most important studies conducted on this issue, both social and legal, which have highlighted the danger of many provisions. In particular, in this study the Author will demonstrate that, although the security of European citizens is a legitimate and fundamental priority for the Commission, successfully implemented by a series of reforms aimed at fostering cross-border police cooperation including the new Prüm II Regulation, nevertheless the latter fails to produce improvements in terms of the rules of Directive 2016/680, on the protection of personal data with regard to the processing of data by police and criminal justice authorities. In fact, many of its new rules create further serious risks for the fundamental rights of the citizens themselves, with the consequent need for further new regulatory changes.