Brussels, 07/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The international community has vigorously condemned the attacks on London. Explosions in the tube and on a bus may have killed up to 30 people and injured more than 300. An unknown group has claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of Al Quaida. Condolences from the capital cities have been sent, expressing horror and determination to fight terrorism. Immediately leaving the G8 in Scotland (where he was chairman) for London, Tony Blair was the first to indicate that it was terrorist action but highlighted “our determination to defend our values and our way of life, which is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction”.
G8 leaders continued their meeting by “absolutely condemning these barbaric attacks” and were “united in their determination to confront and defeat terrorism”, they declared in a text jointly adopted with leaders from Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, as well as the international organisations present at the G8 summit in Gleneagles in Scotland on Wednesday. “We condemn utterly these barbaric attacks. We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation, but on all nations and on civilised people everywhere”. They also added that they would not give in to violence “to change our societies or our values. Nor will we stop the work of this Summit, which is in the interests of a better world”. US president George Bush declared that “the war on terror goes on” and said that the G8 meeting was part of the work on fighting poverty and AIDS and protecting the environment and those “killing innocent people…the contrast could not be clearer”.
The European Union High Representative for external policy, Javier Solana, expressed his “sympathy and solidarity with the people of London and with the British Government after the explosions this morning and the hideous attack”. The European Parliament observed one minute of silence at midday after its president, Josep Borrell, had expressed the Parliament's condolences for the families of the victims. He said the European Parliament might possibly hold an extraordinary plenary session if the dimension of the attack so requires.
Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for freedom, security and justice, said that “these dreadful attacks again underpin the need to strengthen and accelerate the coordination and exchange of intelligence and other information between the relevant services and law enforcement authorities between the 25 Member States”. He specified that, on 13 July, the European Commission will be making several proposals foreseen after the attacks in Madrid, including that of an early warning mechanism in the event of terrorist attack.
“It is too early to say” what initiatives could be taken at European level, the UK's permanent representation with the European Institutions said on Thursday. “Priority is to focus on helping the victims and finding the culprits”, a spokesman said, refusing to mention cooperation between Member States on the attacks, mainly between secret services. An extraordinary European Council had met ten days after the attacks on 11 September in the United Sates. The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) had met in extraordinary session eight days after the attacks that hit Madrid on 11 March 2004, killing 191. In September 2001, then in March 2004, the Member States had undertaken to take concrete measures to strengthen their cooperation for combating terrorism. After lagging behind compared to the objectives that they had set themselves for these measures, the Member States have made good progress for introducing these instruments, including the European arrest warrant, which speeds up extradition, or the framework decision for defining and punishing terrorist acts. After the attack in Madrid, they had adopted a declaration on solidarity against terrorism in which they undertook to act together and in a spirit of solidarity if any one of them were to be a victim of a terrorist attack.
A spokesperson for the European police organisation, Europol, said that Europol is helping the British authorities with their investigations by transmitting information and intelligence via its task force against terrorism, which was set up last year after the attacks in Madrid. The unit is composed of around thirty persons, officials of Europol or posted by Member States. At the secretariat general of the Council of Ministers, the situation analysis centre, SitCen, has since the beginning of the year a branch devoted to analysing threats within the European Union, while it hitherto focused on threats from outside. The SitCen receives information on the attack in London directly, which is then passed on to Javier Solana and to the counter-terrorism coordinator, Gijs de Vries, in Brussels.