Brussels, 19/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - Given the terrorist threat from Islamic groups, such as the Al-Qaeda network, the European Parliament adopted on 15 February, by 500 votes to 53 and 51 abstentions, an own-initiative report calling for more cooperation at EU level. With the adoption of the report by Luis Yañez-Barnuevo (PES, Spain), MEPs called on the Council to step up the fight against this phenomenon by adopting a joint definition of terrorism and by strengthening the resources and authority of relevant bodies such as Europol, Eurojust, the EU counter-terrorism coordinator and the International Criminal Court. Although they consider it necessary to increase cooperation with the United States in the fight against terrorism, MEPs stress the need to continue defending fundamental rights using international instruments available. They call on the countries with which the EU has begun membership talks or that have expressed their intention to join the EU to take immediate measures aimed at dissolving nationalist and fanatical organisations that are directly opposed to the Union's democratic principles and which cause passions and racial hatred to flare up. (bc)