EU Home Affairs Ministers, at a meeting by videoconference on Friday 13 November, will adopt a declaration condemning the recent terrorist attacks in France, Austria and Germany and will outline their response to this phenomenon.
In the afternoon, they will discuss the Pact on Migration and Asylum and have a political debate on the general architecture of the Pact, with a view to a potential agreement in early December.
On terrorism, the eight-page declaration submitted to the ministers has undergone several changes since 9 November, as national ambassadors to the EU have been concerned not to give the impression of stigmatising Islam or instrumentalising migration, while France has experienced two attacks (in Paris and Nice) directly operated by people who recently entered the EU. Nor did some Member States want too strong a reference to Schengen and freedom of movement with possible restrictions in the area.
In the final text agreed by the diplomats on 11 November, the most controversial points were therefore deleted. Seen by EUROPE, this text first condemns these attacks and offers support to the victims. The aim here is to “uphold our common values and European way of life” in the face of all forms of terrorism and without dividing societies. “We will safeguard our pluralistic societies and continue with firm resolve to combat all forms of violence which target people on the basis of their actual or supposed ethnic origin, or religious belief or on the basis of other types of prejudice”, the text insists.
Nor will the principles of the Rule of law be undermined, the draft text promises.
On the subject of religious freedom in the EU, which is guaranteed and must be respected, the text refers to the commitment to protect in Europe an expression that is both “peaceful and respectful of the laws adopted by our Member States”, this being valid for all religions. “Our fight against terrorism is not directed against any religion or political belief, but against violent and fanatical extremism”.
Migration
On social cohesion, the text explicitly mentions the issue of migrants, mixing it with the issue of foreign influence on local religious organisations. European Commissioner Ylva Johansson said this week that she was reluctant to make this connection.
Since “successful integration” is of key importance, “this means that migrants are expected to make an active effort to become integrated”, the document says.
Organisations that “do not act in accordance with relevant legislation and support content that is contrary to fundamental rights and freedoms” should not be supported by public funding. Undesirable foreign influence on these national civil and religious organisations through non-transparent financing should also be limited.
On Schengen, the implementation of the interoperability of databases and the exchange of information on dangerous persons must continue, but the text does not address the idea of reforms. It merely recalls that States may reintroduce measures at their internal borders in the event of a threat. The EEAS, for its part, is in any case called upon to work on how to make it easier to expel radicalised foreign terrorists.
Finally, an important chapter is devoted to online radicalisation and the responsibility of social media and hosting providers. The text calls for the adoption of the Regulation on terrorist content online before the end of the year. The text also states that the EU Council needs to address the issue of data encryption, even if no specific legislation or measures are mentioned.
It should be noted that the text does not speak of the training of imams, but, more generally, of the attention to be paid to religious training and education. “We should promote the fact that religious education and training - preferably within the EU - should be in line with European fundamental rights and values”, says the text.
Charles Michel's idea, launched on 9 November, to create a European Institute to train imams has therefore not been taken up at this stage.
Link to text: https://bit.ly/3pnJHxW (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)