Brussels, 12/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Emotion after the terrorist attacks in France ran deep but the European Union appeared on Monday keen not to give in to panic or knee-jerk reactions. Fifty European and international leaders took part in the unity rally on Sunday 11 January to honour those killed in the terrorist attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, police officers and the Jewish supermarket. However, care is being taken not to be ensnared in clamp downs, the main trap of which would be seeking to change the rules of the Schengen area.
An extraordinary meeting of EU home affairs ministers was for a time suggested for 16 January and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who met eleven of his European counterparts and US Justice Secretary Eric Holder, spoke about it in Paris on Sunday. It was, however, finally ruled out on Monday afternoon. “Already there is an informal meeting in Riga at the end of January, then the European summit. Maybe some time should be taken”, said a source, confirming a little later that the meeting would not take place. A meeting of the high-level group (COSI) is expected to be held instead, however.
The ministers meeting in Paris on Sunday did, however, agree to strengthen European anti-terrorist arrangements through information sharing between police and intelligence services, checks at the EU's external borders and tackling jihadist propaganda on the internet. Ministers have for several months been discussing these instruments in their formal and informal meetings, most commonly in restricted committee bringing together the countries most keenly affected by terrorism, such as Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany, but also as a group of 28, as was the case at the October meeting. The tragic events of these last few days will cause them to intensify their discussions. They have principally highlighted the proposals on a European PNR directive that has been pending since 2013 in the European Parliament. Thus it was that, on Sunday, Cazeneuve called on Parliament to break the deadlock. “It is a matter of urgency that progress is made on putting a European PNR in place” which would “allow air passenger data to be exchanged among the member states with all the necessary guarantees on personal data protection”, the French minister said. “That would allow us to track those travelling to areas where terrorists are operating or returning from there”, he said. “We are sure that this would be of inestimable assistance”, he stated. A European PNR would see airlines providing law enforcement authorities with personal information (name, address, bank card number, telephone number, etc.) on their passengers travelling to or from a non-EU airport, and even those deemed to be suspect on internal European flights. Parliament's civil liberties committee (LIBE), however, voted down the text, arguing that it would infringe people's fundamental rights and cannot be justified in its anti-terrorist objectives. The issue continues to divide MEPs. For Dominique Riquet (ALDE), “freedom without security is illusory. Yes to necessary and proportionate restriction of data protection”, he said on Twitter. The Greens/EFA and the GUE, however, are sceptical, just like the German S&D MEPs who are extremely watchful of this issue. According to Jan-Philipp Albrecht, ministers are playing into the hands of the terrorists “in calling for Big Brother measures”.
Among other measures suggested is the beefing up of controls at the external borders of the EU. The member states want more systematic monitoring of European citizens returning from sensitive locations or who give cause for suspicion, by running their travel documents through existing police databases. At the present moment, a source says, the Schengen borders code does not allow systematic checks on the validity of the passports of European citizens when they cross the external borders. In October and December of last year, EU interior ministers made requests that could ultimately cause the Commission to make a legislative amendment to the Schengen borders code. At this point, however, despite calls for changes to freedom of movement rules, there are no plans for deeper review of the Schengen system. On Sunday, Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz argued for the rules to be amended “to restrict the mobility of Islamist fighters returning to Europe”. “We have just reformed Schengen”, points out a European source, as a result of the Arab Spring in 2011. “While we are not totally opposed to the possibility of amending the code to bring in more checks at the external borders, we believe that, first of all, all existing possibilities have to be used”, said a source.
Another sensitive issue: cooperation with the giant Internet companies in the fight against radicalisation. Mr Cazeneuve explained, "we must fight against the depraved use of the Internet, which all terrorist organisations practise when they broadcast their messages of hate, racism and anti-Semitism, in their attempts to seduce vulnerable minds with their propaganda and recruit new terrorists and provide them with the means to take action. We have therefore strongly emphasised the need for much greater cooperation with the Internet companies, to guarantee the signalling and withdrawal, when it is possible, of illicit content, particularly content that acts as an apologist for terrorism or an incitement to violence or hatred". As early as 2013, the European Commission launched meetings on the subject with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Finally, ministers also agreed to work on the trade in illegal firearms. The Commission is expected to present a legislative revision in this domain as part of the framework on its future Security Agenda, explained one source.
Homage from EP
At the opening of the session, the European Parliament observed a minute's silence to honour the 17 people killed in the Paris attacks. The political groups then expressed their feelings on the matter and warned against governments taking measures that could crush freedom. Guy Verhofstadt from the ALDE group said, "it will be necessary to take additional measures at a European level but this will not be done by reducing civil liberties and imposing restrictions". Michèle Rivasi from the Greens/EFA said, "We are not going to accept sickening hodgepodge measures" and warned against finding themselves in another trap where, "civil liberties are drowned in an arsenal of security measures… We do not protect freedom, with less freedom". The EPP, S&D groups pointed out that another Europe had been born last week, a Europe of values, a Europe that refuses, "fear and hatred of others", said Pervenche Bérès. Leaders from the EEFD, Nigel Farage and Marine le Pen, underlined what they regarded as the mistakes committed by current governments, particularly with regard to foreign policy and lax immigration controls. (SP)