EU strategy is adopted - “Comprehensive and proportionate response to threat from terrorism”

Brussels, 16/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday in its conclusions, the European Council reiterated the importance of “a comprehensive and proportionate response to the threat from terrorism”. The European Council has adopted the EU strategy for combating terrorism as proposed by the British Presidency. The strategy sets out a framework for work to prevent radicalisation and the recruitment to terrorism, to protect citizens and infrastructure, to pursue and investigate terrorist, and to improve the response to the consequences of attacks (EUROPE 9080). In its conclusions, the European Council notes that the EU Counter-Terrorism Action Plan, the instrument for tracking implementation, is being revised to ensure full coherence with the new Strategy. Furthermore, the European Council welcomes progress made in the priority dossiers listed in the half-yearly report from the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, Gijs de Vries of the Netherlands, and in the action plan of June 2004, and calls for this impetus to be maintained. The European Council in June 2006 will evaluate the progress accomplished in implementing the strategy for combating terrorism.