On Tuesday 25 October, several political groups at the European Parliament called for greater efficiency in the European internal security strategy and for a reduction in the accumulation of new instruments in the fight against terrorism. This appeal was made during a debate in which Slovakia's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ivan Korčok and European Commissioner for the Security Union, Sir Julian King, made contributions.
Cornelia Ernst (GUE/NGL, Germany) immediately set the tone of the debate by criticising the Commission and Council of the EU for not making more progress with the dossier. "There is absolutely nothing new in what you’ve just said! What you’re doing is practically all to do with repression and not the prevention of terrorism", she said.
Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany) deplored the failure of member states to respect their commitments, as well as their difficulties in becoming involved in the many different instruments used in the fight against terrorism, such as information exchanges. Eleven member states do not yet have a plan for implementing the European PNR (passenger name records), for which transposition into national legislation is planned for 2018.
“We are currently creating insecurity”. Birgit Sippel (S&D, Germany) went even further in her criticism and asserted that, above all, she wanted a focus on improving existing measures. "It is time to put a stop to highlighting and increasing the data. This is a chasm that can be entered by terrorists. The discussion is always on new measures, which is actually counter-productive and we are creating insecurity”, she said.
Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, France) stated that the EU was not short on either data or instruments, but on resources. She received applause at the European Parliament when she said: "We are short of staff and the ability to communicate information. Let’s step up cooperation between member states and provide additional resources to police forces!"
Korčok hailed the "remarkable legislative progress" in the fight against terrorism and its prevention, whilst admitting that meeting all of these challenges would take an enormous amount of time and that "years of investment" will be necessary. Speaking on behalf of the Commission, Julian King, paid particular attention to the criticism made by the MEPs. He once again pointed out that progress still needed to be made in the fight against radicalisation, in improving the efficiency of the emergency services in the event of a terrorist attack, and in optimising information exchange systems between member states – effectively all the themes tackled in the European internal security strategy (see EUROPE 11644). King also said it was imperative to improve infrastructure and external border controls. (Original version in French by Thomas Régnier)