The European Council, meeting on 10 and 11 December, will in turn take up the issue of the fight against terrorism.
Following a meeting of EU Home Affairs Ministers on 13 November (see EUROPE 12601/1), the heads of state or government are expected to call on the European Commission to work on a “way forward” with regard to data retention to enable law enforcement authorities to carry out their investigations and work to prevent terrorism, without mentioning legislation on encryption. At the same time, this issue will be the focus of written conclusions of the EU Council, which ask the Commission to work on new technical and legal solutions in this area.
The leaders’ conclusions are also expected to put the issue of religious education and religious training in Europe back on the table, a topic that caused a stir in November after Charles Michel suggested the creation of a European institute for the training of imams.
The draft conclusions do not refer to any particular religion, but reaffirm the need to “ensure that religious education and training are in line with the fundamental principles and values of the EU”. There is also a need to address “foreign influence on national civil and religious rights through non-transparent funding”.
In order to prevent “radicalisation and to tackle the ideologies underlying terrorism and extremism, including online”, it’s necessary to “step up the fight against illegal content online”. The European Council should also reiterate its wish for the rapid adoption of the Regulation on the removal of terrorist content online while negotiations are failing to make progress.
More generally, there is also a need to work on a better understanding of extremist ideologies. This text should not be reopened a priori at the European Summit, as European leaders have a multitude of other issues on the agenda, which could make a discussion on terrorism secondary, anticipates one source.
The European Council will also adopt a declaration against antisemitism at the European Summit.
Schengen
Regarding Schengen, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had announced at the beginning of November that he would submit some possible reforms for the external borders to his European colleagues. According to a French source, he should therefore present his ideas at this time, with a view to a reform announced for the spring by the Commission.
At this stage, the draft conclusions insist on the implementation of decisions taken to improve Schengen, such as those improving the Schengen Information System, the implementation of the entry/exit system or the effective application of systematic checks on everyone (even EU nationals) crossing the EU’s external borders.
In the conclusions, EU leaders should also insist on the need to adopt Europol’s new mandate before the end of 2021.
Link to the project: https://bit.ly/39Aoprg (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)