On Wednesday 26 February, gathering in Zagreb, 23 EU member sates (all except Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Greece, Poland, Slovakia) as well as the United Kingdom signed a letter of commitment on the creation of a ‘European Intelligence College’.
This college is intended to be “an unprecedented platform for exchange to strengthen the intelligence culture on the continent”, both in the field of internal and external security, whether in relation to terrorism or defence issues.
In September 2017, it was French President Emmanuel Macron who put forward the idea of creating a European “Intelligence Academy”. The College aims to “foster strategic dialogue between the intelligence communities in Europe”, to better “reach decision-makers and citizens” regarding the challenges in the field and to “develop academic reflection”. The College should meet three or four times a year on specific topics, but will not be a platform for exchanging intelligence.
The European Commission is not involved in the project, which is an intergovernmental initiative, a spokesperson said. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)