Урок 13

(европол)

Словарь

to combat terrorism (smuggling, trafficking) liaison officer [lI'eIzOn] to have access to ... sensitive information routine information fraud to defraud offender offence

бороться с терроризмом (контра­бандой, нелегальными перевозка­ми и торговлей) офицер связи иметь доступ к ... секретная информация текущая служебная информация обман, мошенничество обманывать, мошенничать правонарушитель правонарушение, проступок

Домашнее задание к уроку 13

Выполните упражнение I.

Упражнения

Упражнение I. Переведите текст 1 письменно:

Текст 1

Convention against crime

BRUSSELS  Hard drugs, stolen cars, trafficking in prostitutes, illegal immigrants: whatever the industry, the European Union’s single market is making cross-border crime easier. Just as honest businessmen are no longer harried by frontier controls, so too Europe’s criminals.

On March 26th seven countries (Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal) ended passport checks between them  and, fear pessimists, Europe’s international criminals will thumb their noses at poor Constable Plod, pounding his national beat.

* * * ***

Enter Europol, the European Police Office, foreseen by the European Union. Combating international crime sounds like something even har­­dened Eurosceptics could agree should be done at a European, rather than a national level. But what should Europol actually do?

After months of wrangling (the relevant ministers met again this week), the EU’s members have yet to agree on a convention defining Europol’s role and powers. In its absence, the governments have managed only to establish the Europol Drugs Unit, which set up shop in The Hague in January 1994 (one year behind schedule) and has a mere 76 officers, with purely analytical functions, trying to fight one of the world’s biggest growth industries. They are also supposed, by a decision of EU heads of state last December, to combat the smuggling of cars, people and nuclear materials.

* ** * **

The lack of progress reflects genuine difficulties. One is political: turning Europol into a supranational police, answerable to (for instance) the European Court of Justice, alarms countries such as Britain and France, which want it to remain under "inter-governmental" control, separate from communal bodies such as the court.

Other problems are practical. Europol will be only as good as its information. So should national police forces feed in whatever Europol wants? Should all Europol information be available to every national liaison officer?

The French at first argued (they are now shifting) that the liaison officers should have automatic access to everything. The Germans argue that information should be available only on a "need to know" basis. The British side with the Germans. National police forces, they say, will provide sensitive information only if they can be sure it will not get into the wrong hands. And foreign agencies (such as the CIA) will not maintain bilateral links if they think their intelligence will be spread to all and sundry in the Union.

The Wall Street Journal Europe,

June 3, 2001

Упражнение II. Переведите текст 2 с листа. Определите по сло­варю контекстуальное значение слова "remit":