Brussels, 27/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - In compliance with the requests made by the Polish Presidency, the two Council “terrorism” working groups, the “Terrorism working group” and COTER (Committee on Terrorism) will meet on Thursday morning 28 July in Brussels, for a special meeting in an attempt to draw the lessons from the Oslo and Utoeya attacks. Representatives from the Norwegian authorities, Europol and Gilles de Kerchove, the Antiterrorism Coordinator's office, have also been invited to attend this meeting. On Wednesday, another meeting was held in Brussels, which specifically focused on chemical products that can be used in home-made bomb making.
On Thursday, the first objective is to listen to the Norwegian authorities and their analysis of the events, explained one source, as well as to test the level of EU preparation for such attacks, particularly by examining available legislative instruments. Europol is chiefly concerned with discussing the efficiency of alarm systems and information sharing between member states, which are primarily responsible for surveillance of terrorists and extremists groups. On Friday 22 July, Europol set up a “crisis centre” consisting of around 50 intelligence experts, investigators and explosives and terrorism specialists, in an attempt to help the Norwegian authorities in their investigations. On Tuesday 26 July, Europol announced that it wanted to develop as accurate a profile as possible of right-wing extremism in Europe, particularly in northern Europe, explained the AFP news agency. (S.P./transl.fl)