Brussels, 30/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The mobilisation of the Union for the international fight against terrorism continues on every front. Romano Prodi and Guy Verhofstadt stress this is so in a letter addressed on 28 November to President Bush, in response to his letter of 15 October, which gave the 47 areas of action in which possible support from the Union had been solicited. Romano Prodi and Guy Verhofstadt recall that the Union expressed its full support to the United States immediately after the attacks of 11 September and that, ten days later, the European Council adopted an action plan for which implementation has already begun. "Many of the suggestions that you have made were already foreseen in this action plan and some have since been put into effect. For the rest, we are examining how to make them move forward in the best conditions", said Mr Prodi and Mr Verhofstadt. They insist on the importance of "remaining in close contact for follow up actions identified" and on their determination to "strengthen this cooperation in coming months" and on reassuring the US President that he "may fully count on the support and cooperation of the EU in the fight against terrorism".
The latest progress in the implementation of this plan and the following steps are:
Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan: The decision on the financing of additional humanitarian aid of EUR 8.5 million from the ECHO budget was taken on Friday to fund mine clearance operations for new kinds of unexploded bombs, and aid to refugees returning home, medial aid and emergency food aid in the region of Kandahar. This brings total humanitarian aid provided this year to EUR 52.4 million, of which 29 million has been paid out since 11 September.
The trip Poul Nielson will be making to the area from Monday onwards, will make it possible to assess requirements in order to plan future interventions. Rebuilding Afghanistan. The Commission will be visited on 17 December by the international donor group recently set up in Washington and comprising the EU, the United States, Japan, Saudi Arabia and international organisations.
Civil defence. The Commission has unveiled a Communication on actions already taken to improve the Union's rapid reaction capacity with regard to bioterrorism and will soon be appointing a coordinator of emergency networks (likely to be Commissioner Margot Wallström).
Freezing terrorists' assets. Using the written procedure on Friday, the Commission adopted an amended draft regulation incorporating Parliament's amendments and taking account of UN Security Council Resolution 1373. The main amendments concern the legal base (the proposal is now not only based on Treaty Article 308, but also Article 60 (free circulation of capital) and Article 301 (CFSP)); a new and wider definition of funds; including in the definition words like "terrorism", "financial services", "ownership" and "control" from the international convention on combating the sponsoring of terrorism; and a measure whereby the regulation can be revised. The aim is to be able to find terrorists wherever they are and extend the scope of restrictive interventions against them.