Unveiling the Power over Europol's Secrets

After decades in a culture of secrecy, ever since the Maastricht Treaty the European Union has made efforts to establish transparency as a fundamental principle of European governance. Yet, to what extent is the EU actually transparent? This paper explores new ground by approaching transparency from its flip side. It addresses secrecy and how secrecy operates in practice through the system of classification of documents. Focusing on Europol, an EU law enforcement agency and an important security actor which facilitates Member States to safeguard security through exchange of sensitive information, this paper provides an in-depth inquiry of who is the main actor for classifying documents and what are the implications for such state of affairs. It draws on Europol’s legal framework and enriches the discussion with empirical work by looking at the practice.