By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
CATHERINE De Bolle has stepped down as Executive Director of Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency.
Jürgen Ebner will perform the role of ‘Acting Executive Director’ until the new Executive Director takes office. He is currently Europol’s Deputy Executive Director of Governance.
Ms De Bolle served as the agency’s executive director for eight years.
The agency held a farewell event for her, which took place on 23 April 2026 at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague.
Ms De Bolle said that her time in the role has “been so fulfilling, both professionally and personally”.
“I’ve been building a strong foundation of trust within and towards Europol throughout the last eight years of my tenure as Executive Director,” she said.
“I will miss the beautiful city The Hague and all of my colleagues at Europol.”
In a post on LinkedIn, Ms De Bolle said she wanted to highlight the importance of ‘trust and empowerment’ in Europol’s operations.
“Under my leadership, Europol has significantly reinforced trust with these central stakeholders by anchoring the agency’s evolution in a clear, shared vision,” she said.
“By firmly respecting those coercive powers that remain exclusively in national government’s hands, I have reassured Chiefs of Police that Europol complements national authorities and does not compete with them. In this way, Europol has remained what it must be: a support agency, not a supranational police force.”
She added: “By fostering a culture of partnership and voluntary information exchange, we have deepened mutual trust and encouraged more systematic and higher-quality intelligence sharing.”
Catherine De Bolle hails empowerment at Europol
Ms De Bolle also said that a key aim was to ‘empower Europol as an agency and a workforce’.
“We have implemented key changes, including a dedicated HR strategy, a diversity and inclusion (DI) strategy, and the creation of the business partner model, to ensure that Europol remains an attractive, forward-looking workplace capable of recruiting and retaining top expertise,” she said.
“As I prepare to leave my role as Executive Director, I am filled with a sense of pride and gratitude for the incredible journey we have shared.”
Last year, Ms De Bolle received the inaugural ‘John O’Driscoll Memorial Award’ at the European Anti-Financial Crime Summit.
The award marked her work combatting financial crime and enhancing international cooperation.
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