Brussels, 16/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 July, European interior ministers expressed their resolve to ensure a European internal security plan is set in place by 2014, the Belgian EU Presidency said. “We agreed to put an operational plan in place by 2014. This will give us the time to develop and test a policy cycle, to exchange ideas at policy level and to draw up a four-year strategy”, said Annemie Turtelboom, Belgian Interior Minister, speaking on the occasion of an informal meeting with European colleagues, in Brussels. Each country, she said, has its own security but overall security is needed to face crossborder threats. The strategy to be developed will encompass the whole security chain - from prevention to prosecution and punishment. “By focusing particularly on prevention, we can counter phenomena that arise more rapidly and prevent them spreading from one European country to the next”, the minister said. The setting in place of the strategy will be carried out in major phases: analysis of the situation, identification of the priorities, drafting, implementation and monitoring action plans and, finally assessment. Turtelboom agreed with her colleagues that both Europol and COSI (standing committee on operational cooperation on internal security) will play a key role in this process. Once in place, the strategy will be reviewed every four years. The Belgian Presidency will present a first series of proposals “in November-December” (Phase 1). Europol Director Rob Wainwright of Britain stressed it will be necessary to ensure that this strategy works in order to be able to deal a hard blow on criminal groups in Europe.
The Belgian Presidency also made the fight against itinerant gangs and the trafficking of heavy weapons from south-east Europe one of the priorities. Turtelboom said these two phenomena were the cause of great concern. Itinerant gangs often commit theft in different EU states, before they disappear back to their own country, thus escaping the police, after the fashion of the Estonians recently arrested in Belgium. Wainwright said the gangs were a scourge on society, that they were highly dangerous criminals from the Baltic who carry out raids through the EU, committing violent attacks against jeweller's shops before returning to their own countries. He said the speed with which they act in Europe is cause for concern. The Europol director also denounced the kidnapping of thousands of Romanian children by criminal gangs, that use them in Europe for pick-pocketing. “These networks are organised throughout Europe”, he said, adding that “it is a new phenomenon and calls for a European response”. The minister also brought up the problem of the illegal sale of weapons of war, a problem that emerged after the conflict in the Balkans and which requires a common approach in a Europe with open internal borders. “All European countries, not only Belgium, are seeing a rise in the number of incidents involving heavy weapons, such as Kalashnikovs”, Turtelboom said. In this context, a feasibility study is to be launched and an action plan will be proposed in November or December, she said. The director of Europol highlighted the considerable rise in the use of assault rifles and rocket launchers sold for ridiculously small amounts of money - between €300-700 for an assault rifle - in the countries to the south-east of Europe. In Belgium alone, Kalashnikovs and other weapons of the same kind were used 113 times last year in crimes of robbery, that is, twice as much as in 2008. (B.C./transl.jl)