Brussels, 21/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - "Yes! We need a European arrest warrant. Yes! We need a European prosecutor. Yes! Eurojust must become operational as soon as possible. Yes! Europol must play an increased role of co-ordination. Yes! Legal and police co-operation may be placed at a Community level. Yes! The fight against organised crime, in all its aspects, may be placed at Community level, and in particular that relating to financial crime and arms trafficking. These are as many immediate measures for which Parliament asks you to provide a decisive political impetus this evening". This is what Nicole Fontaine, European Parliament President, said Friday evening to the EU Heads of State and Government meeting within an extraordinary European Council devoted to a joint response to the threat of terrorism, following the attacks on New York and Washington of 11 September.
These measures, she said, will be facilitated by the political agreement reached Thursday in the JHA Council (see yesterday EUROPE pages 8 and 9), "on condition that the deadlocks that prevent the alignment of criminal legislation, though provided for in the Amsterdam Treaty, are definitively broken by the beginning of December". At the same time, Ms. Fontaine stressed, there needs to be an "evolution in mentalities and conduct", and "unfailing co-operation" between all the services responsible for security.
Recalling that this strengthening in the fight against terrorism had been demanded by Parliament for a long time now, Ms. Fontaine, moreover, noted that, following this crisis, "a whole swathe of the economy may be affected, with serious consequences for jobs. At a time when the euro will enter the daily lives of over 300 million Europeans, close co-operation that goes for security must also go for the economy. There needs to be a European response and not fifteen national responses", she demanded.
At a more general level, recalling that she herself had suggested the holding of such an extraordinary Council (see EUROPE of 14 September, p.4), Fontaine considered that the new challenges raised by these "dramatic events" required "a major qualitative leap" in European construction.
As for the reply to the attacks, Ms Fontaine hoped that the United States, even "f it was the primary direct victim, will ensure that it avoids too much of a unilateral response, or perceived to be such": This response must "provide the alliance of all States that have undertaken to participate with all its sense", she said, noting that the latest developments of the American Administration seem to be going along those lines.
Once again, Fontaine recalled that Parliament had stressed the "absolute need for everything to be done to avoid an assimilation being established between Islamic fundamentalism and the rest of Islam". The ambassadors of the Arab League to the EU confided "their concerns" to me on this subject", she recalled (see yesterday's EUROPE p.6), and the current situation must lead us to reactivate ties with these countries and rekindle the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and with the Muslim world in general, she added, stating that "the European Parliament intends taking initiatives along these lines".
Finally, Ms. Fontaine hoped that the Israeli Prime Minister would lift the conditions laid down for a Peres-Arafat meeting, and paid tribute to the EU officials and Javier Solana who "ensure a permanent presence with Israelis and Palestinians."