| Author (Person) | Davies, Eric | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | 29.3.04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 29/03/2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On 25 March, at the European Council in Brussels, EU leaders agreed a raft of measures intended to strengthen the Union's ability to combat terrorism. A wide-ranging Declaration on combating terrorism pledged both the Union and its Member States to 'do everything within their power to combat all forms of terrorism.' A further Declaration on solidarity against terrorism read: 'We, the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the European Union, and of the States acceding to the Union on 1 May, have declared our firm intention as follows: In the spirit of the solidarity clause laid down in Article 42 of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, the Member States and the acceding States shall accordingly act jointly in a spirit of solidarity if one of them is the victim of a terrorist attack. They shall mobilise all the instruments at their disposal, including military resources to:
It shall be for each Member State or acceding State to the Union to choose the most appropriate means to comply with this solidarity commitment towards the affected State.' The European Council also endorsed a European Parliament proposal that 11 March should henceforth be designated as a European Day to commemorate the victims of terrorism. Background The issue of terrorism took precedence on the agenda of the Brussels Summit following the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March. The attacks - in which some 200 people died and 1,800 were injured - provided a grim reminder that initiatives agreed in the wake of the September 2001 attacks in New York have in many cases not been implemented. On 21 September 2001, a special meeting of the European Council approved an Action Plan to combat terrorism. As the Financial Times put it: 'Four days before the Madrid bombings, a small committee working for Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, submitted a report spelling out what measures the member states had taken to combat terrorism since September 11 2001. Despite all the promises about improving co-operation and joint action, the member states have fallen behind in both implementation of agreed measures and subsequent co-ordination' (see: New legislation or EU bodies were ruled out by the European Commission in an Action Paper adopted on 16 March in response to the Madrid attacks. In it, the Commission argued that 'most of the legislative and institutional framework is proposed or in place and simply needs to be approved and/or implemented on the ground' and that priority should therefore be given to coordinating relevant initiatives. The Paper proposed that the Union should take a number of steps in response to the Lisbon bombs:
(At the 16 March meeting the Commission also adopted a paper on the European Security Strategy, which was approved by the European Council on 12 December 2003 and which identified terrorism as one of three key threats facing the Union - for more details see European Sources Online: In Focus: In preparation for the Brussels European Council on 25-26 March, the Commission identified existing legislative instruments relevant to the fight against terrorism, and draft measures already on the Council table. Amongst the existing measures listed were:
The Commission also reported that two Member States have not yet set up national contact points for exchanging information on terrorism with Eurojust and Europol, in the context of the Council Decision setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime and the Council Decision on the implementation of specific measures for police and judicial cooperation to combat terrorism in accordance with Article 4 of Common Position 2001/931/CFSP. The Commission also identified other legislative measures which are in the system, but which have yet to be adopted at EU or national level. They include the Council Framework Decision on the execution in the European Union of orders freezing property or evidence, due to be implemented by August 2005, Regulation 2320/2002 and Regulation 1486/2003 on civil aviation security, and a draft Regulation on enhancing port and ship facility security. The Commission also urged the Justice and Home Affairs Council to adopt 'as a matter of priority' the following proposals:
Many of the items enumerated in the Commission's Action Paper were discussed by Ministers at an Extraordinary meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, on 19 March. Intended 'to give a renewed impulse to the European response to the terrorist threat to our society', the meeting emphasised the need to implement existing measures and to reinforce practical cooperation, highlighting in particular the 'possibilities offered by the Police Chiefs Task Force, Europol (Europe's law enforcement agencies are reportedly 'still reluctant to share “high grade”, real-time intelligence on terrorism that can be acted upon immediately' - see BBC: The European terror challenge) and Eurojust'. Member States renewed their commitment to implementing existing initiatives and agreed a package of measures on combating terrorism, including the creation of a counter-terrorism coordinator. The BBC said that the coordinator 'is expected to work under the EU's foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana, and to be answerable to the Council of Ministers' (see: Q&A: EU 'terror tsar'). Speaking for the Irish Presidency, Ireland's Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, announced that the Council had agreed a draft Declaration on Combating Terrorism which 'will result in a strong manifesto for a renewed attack on all aspects of the terrorist threat to Europe' (see: EU unites in the fight against Terrorism - McDowell). A few days later, on 22 March, the General Affairs Council discussed the measures and agreed to forward the package to the European Council. Participants again stressed the need to implement existing measures, to reinforce practical cooperation ('with particular emphasis on the work of intelligence services'), and also highlighted the need for international cooperation. On 25 March 2004, at the Brussels European Council, participants emphasised the need to implement existing measures to combat terrorism as a matter of urgency. In addition to the legislative measures previously identified, the meeting also instructed the Council to consider:
Particular stress was placed on the need for the Council to adopt, by the end of 2004, a draft Regulation on standards for security features and biometrics in EU citizens' passports proposed less than a month before the attacks in Madrid. The European Council also called for the creation by the end of the following year of 'an integrated system for the exchange of information on stolen and lost passports' and in addition invited the Commission to draft a proposal for 'a common EU approach to the use of passengers data for border and aviation security and other law enforcement purposes' by June 2004. The meeting also called for a long-term strategy to address all the factors which contribute to terrorism and adopted a revised list of Strategic objectives to combat terrorism, and requested the Council to complete its adoption and to report back to the European Council in June. The 'Revised Plan of Action' has the following objectives:
The European Council confirmed that Javier Solana, the Secretary-General of the Council and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, had decided to appoint Mr. Gijs de Vries to the position of Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, working within the Council Secretariat. Leaders further agreed that future agreements on assistance programmes to Third Countries should address counter-terrorism concerns - presumably with the prospect of aid being withdrawn if a country is not thought to be taking appropriate anti-terrorism measures. Despite continuing disagreements and concerns within the EU over the US-led war in Iraq - highlighted by Spain's incoming Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who was elected in the wake of the Madrid bombings - leaders confirmed that the European Council 'will seek to further strengthen cooperation with the US and other partners' in countering terrorism. The pressure group Statewatch was critical of the Union's response to the Madrid attacks. Spokesman Tony Bunyan said: 'Under the guise of tackling terrorism the EU is planning to bring in a swathe of measures to do with crime and the surveillance of the whole population.' According to a Statewatch “Scoreboard” on the threats to civil liberties and privacy in EU terrorism plans, many of the proposals 'have little or nothing to do with tackling terrorism - they deal with crime in general and surveillance.' It was not only the measures proposed, but also the way in which they were agreed that concerned Statewatch: 'This method of decision-making is totally undemocratic. The Declaration [on combating terrorism] was drawn up in secret, differences were discussed in secret, and the outcome was agreed in secret' (see: Summit nods through “EU Homeland Security” package). Further information within European Sources Online European Sources Online: Topic Guides
European Sources Online: In Focus
European Sources Online: Financial Times
Further information can be seen in these external links: EU Institutions Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU
Council of the European Union
European Commission DG Press and Communication
DG JHA
National governments United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Pressure and representative groups, non-governmental organisations Statewatch
Media organisations BBC
Eric Davies Background and reporting on the week's main stories in the European Union and the wider Europe. |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs, Politics and International Relations, Security and Defence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
