The Member States’ interior ministers discussed the recent terrorist attacks in France and Belgium on 13 and 16 October, as well as the consequences of the war between Israel and Hamas for the EU’s internal security, particularly in terms of polarisation and radicalisation within society, during the morning and lunchtime sessions on Thursday 19 October.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, the Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomez, said that, with regard to the implications of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the ministers had stressed the need to strengthen police cooperation, as well as the fight against radicalisation and all violent anti-Semitic or Islamophobic positions.
“We must remain alert and protect our places of worship so that everyone in the EU feels safe”, commented Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.
Meeting for a breakfast on counter-terrorism, the ministers from 8 to 9 Member States, including France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, as well as Sweden, two of whose nationals were killed in Brussels on Monday evening, discussed strengthening cooperation between their police services and the exchange of information.
Emergency meeting on returns
The issue of the return to their country of origin of people whose right to asylum has been rejected was also raised, at a time when the ministers are seeking to strengthen European tools in this area, in particular by finalising the revision of the Returns Directive, proposed in 2018.
The two perpetrators of these attacks, the first in France on 13 October which claimed the life of a teacher, did not have the right to reside in these two countries. The perpetrator of the Brussels attack has even applied for asylum in EU countries 4 times since 2011, with negative decisions.
“The terrorist had applied for asylum in four different European countries and each time his application was rejected because he was not eligible for protection”, commented Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, on her arrival in Luxembourg.
On Wednesday 18 October, during the presentation of a package of texts on security and migration, the Commission Vice-President responsible for Promoting European Way of Life, Margarítis Schinás, called on the co-legislators to reach agreement on this 2018 directive, which had been validated by the Council of the EU but not yet by the European Parliament.
In Luxembourg on Thursday, Ylva Johansson did not wish to blame anyone and pointed out that Tunisia, the country of nationality of the perpetrator of the Brussels attacks, “cooperates well on returns. We need to do more between Member States, we can do more, because we have legislation on the table. It dates back to 2018, so it’s urgent, we need to conclude the dossier as quickly as possible”, she commented, even hoping that the dossier would be concluded under the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
She also announced that an emergency meeting of the High Level Group on returns would be held on Friday 20 October to tackle the risks posed by certain people whose asylum applications have been rejected and who can no longer stay in the EU.
Negotiations within the European Parliament resumed this year, after months of inactivity on this dossier, and the Dutch rapporteur, Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA), hopes that a vote in parliamentary committee will be possible before the end of the year (see EUROPE 12519/5).
According to shadow rapporteur Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe, Dutch), it is now the EPP and shadow rapporteur Jeroen Lenaers (Dutch) who are blocking an agreement, which the MEP disputed on X (formerly Twitter).
According to a parliamentary source, the current context does not in any case lend itself to a more flexible stance on this issue, which would explain why the EPP group is not yet in a position to endorse the compromises on the table. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)