The European Commission will shortly bring forward a raft of new anti-terrorism proposals, it told the European Parliament’s civil liberties (LIBE) committee on Wednesday morning in a debate on the recent terrorist attacks carried out this summer in a number of member states. On 14 July, a radicalised young man killed 84 people, when he drove a lorry into the crowd in Nice, France. In Germany, a Syrian refugee blew himself up in Bavaria on 25 July.
The new proposals have already been announced, in the communication of April 2016 on Security Union (EUROPE 11536), and the first should come in September 2016. The Commission is likely also to propose European rules for the certification of airport equipment. Commission representative Luigi Soreca, who is the director for internal security, also said that the Commission would act very shortly on improving cross-border cooperation and on measures to allow law enforcement authorities to take action more quickly. The Commission will also present measures in the near future on document security and on tackling document fraud.
For the Commission, the recent attacks indicate a change in the modus operandi and increased and faster radicalisation of some young Europeans. Soreca said that putting Sir Julian King, the new UK commissioner, in charge of a new portfolio on the Security Union bore witness to the Commission’s determination to act to counter terrorism.
Soreca also highlighted that the member states and the European Parliament had to approve as quickly as possible the legislative initiatives that were on the table, such as the legislation on firearms and the directive on tackling terrorism. He again recalled the importance of information sharing among the member states’ intelligence services.
Several committee members wondered about the implementation of some measures that have already been adopted, such as the European PNR, which gathers information on passengers from European airlines.
Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld (ALDE) asked how transposition was progressing and noted that it was essential to really evaluate the usefulness of anti-terrorism instruments. Others, such as Jan-Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA), wondered if the Commission was not mixing everything up in its proposals, particularly with regard to terrorists and migrants and refugees. Some MEPs wanted to know how a distinction could be made between refugees and potential terrorists.
Soreca agreed there was “danger in delay” in implementation of the PNR in the member states and said that numerous meetings had taken place with the member states to speed things up. As for distinguishing between genuine migrants and potential terrorists, he recalled that the latest proposals on asylum reform in the EU, presented before the summer, allowed for the systematic exchange of fingerprints so that checks could be carried out before any asylum seeker is sent to another member state.
The Slovak Presidency noted that security would be discussed in Bratislava on 16 September, at the informal meeting of the 27 EU leaders. It has already indicated that it is unlikely, however, that any major announcements will be made on this occasion. The Presidency’s priorities also remain the new mandate for Frontex on the European coast guard and an agreement on firearms before the end of the year. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)