Brussels, 21/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - European Internal Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said in a European Parliament plenary session debate on Thursday 21 January that measures to tackle terrorism had to be stepped up in 2016, particularly with regard to the financing of terrorism, after 150 people had been killed in terrorist attacks in the EU in 2015. “We have to face facts, the threat is very real”, he said.
The commissioner recalled the array of measures taken in 2015, from the conclusion of the European PNR to the firearms action plan, the targeted review of the Schengen Code implementing systematic checks on all travellers at the external borders of the Schengen area and the counter-terrorism centre within Europol.
He took the opportunity to call on the member states to increase information sharing with one another and also with Europol. He said that, in 2016, the focus would be on terrorists' assets and on how to deplete their resources and methods of funding. The Commission is due to present a specific action plan at the start of February (see EUROPE 11469).
MEPs debating the terrorist threat in the EU called for both increased cooperation on intelligence among the member states and a balance between security and freedom, with some expressing concerns about abuses on the back of security.
Netherlands Foreign Minister Bert Koenders made the point that, thus far, 5,000 European fighters were known to have made their way abroad to fight with jihadist groups and that this still posed a massive security challenge when they returned to the EU. The minister stressed, too, that the emphasis should be on preventing radicalisation on the internet and on securing the EU's external borders. He hoped that the latest strengthening of the Schengen code would be up to this challenge. However, he underlined, the borders must not be closed entirely as the migrants coming to Europe are also fleeing the terrorists.
Some MEPs, such as Jan-Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany), argued that the “wrong choice” must not be made between security and freedom and that there must not be reliance solely on gathering “a heap of useless information”. Others, like Marielle de Sarnez (ALDE, France), stated that the work done would remain ineffective unless there is “compulsory information sharing”. Some, from the ECR Group, suggest that the EU's policy towards third countries must be entirely re-thought - particularly Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, “countries which support and finance terrorism” and which should rather have sanctions imposed on them. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)