The European Parliament, sitting in Strasbourg on Thursday 6 July, approved the setting up of a special committee on terrorism, as the EPP and ALDE Groups had called for some weeks ago. The mandate of the committee was adopted by 527 votes to 73, with 36 abstentions.
Despite resistance from the S&D Group, the Conference of the Presidents decided on Wednesday 5 July that the committee should be established.
The role of the special committee, which is not a committee of inquiry, will be to shed light upon the problems that occurred between member states’ services and failings in information sharing.
“Our Parliamentary committee will issue recommendations to ensure that citizens are better protected and assess the impact of anti-terrorism measures on their fundamental rights”, said Greens/EFA joint leader Philippe Lamberts in a press release on 5 July. His group believes that setting up the committee was the right course of action.
The special committee will also be charged with looking into the implementation of existing measures in the field of external border management and the interoperability of European information-sharing databases. Its mandate will run for 12 months, according to the mandate passed on Thursday, and it will be made up of 30 MEPs. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)