Brussels, 27/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Luxembourg on 26 April to discuss recent terrorist attacks and how to deal with them, the EU27 home affairs ministers also examined the lessons of the killings in Toulouse and Montauban in France by soldier Mohamed Merah, and the massacres last summer in Norway by Anders Berhring Breivik. EU anti-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove of Belgium, suggested ideas to the ministers. Since 2008, he said, 13 attacks have been carried out by individuals thought to have been acting alone, mostly quoting Islamic extremist and far right motivations. EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström says on her website that this type of terrorism, along with radical Islam, is the biggest threat to EU countries' security. De Kerchove says that various types of action can be taken, like stronger connections among intelligence services and social workers, and between the intelligence services and the private sector, transport companies, for example.
Online surveillance should be stepped up, argued de Kerchove. It is difficult for governments to take action against radical websites because internet service providers are not happy about closing down websites. The EU should focus, said de Kerckhove, on counter-acting al-Qaeda propaganda, recommending prevention of radicalisation in prison by helping prison governors and jailers monitor prisoner behaviour.
Immediate action discussed by the ministers on Thursday included the draft directive on European PNR and the sale, marketing and licensing of chemicals that can be used to make explosives. For the PNR, the Danish Presidency submitted a draft compromise increasing to two years the length of time that information about the identity, personal details and bank account information European airline passengers can be legally kept, leaving it to the member states to decide whether to apply this surveillance system to flights within Europe. The question of flights within Europe has not yet been discussed at the European Parliament.
On explosive precursors, the ministers made a little progress, but did not reach full agreement. The directive will restrict the right of individuals to buy nitric acid, nitromethane and other chemicals that can be used to make bombs, but there are exemptions for people based on a licensing system for the purchase of small quantities. (SP/transl.fl)