Lisbon, 02/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - In the margins of the informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers in Lisbon on Monday 1 October, the new EU counterterrorism coordinator indicated his ambition to take stock, by December this year, of all of the tools made available to the member states in the fight against terrorism. Working on the basis that “the EU has no desire to replace the member states” in this area, he said that he wanted to draw up a critical “inventory” of European policies already in place. While this remains undone, the EU only has recourse to broad strategies and action plans in this area, he said before a small group of journalists. “We need to know whether the member states are providing enough information to Europol and Eurojust - which I'm not sure they are - and find out what we can do to make it work”, Mr de Kerchove insisted. Since a decision taken in 2005, the member states are in fact obliged to submit all necessary information to do with terrorism to Europol and Eurojust in good time. The member states must also ensure that SitCen (the European threat analysis centre) is kept informed of all threat trends so that the Council can develop the most finely-tuned political strategies possible, he said. In this context he mentioned various aspects currently occupying the Council's attention: “the problem of converts to Islam”, “the role of explosives”, “the internet” (how to make bombs), and “Pakistan”, with which country “a more intensive dialogue” must be entered into.
The balance between security and freedom: “This is a very complicated subject”, Mr de Kerchove said. In the area of counterterrorism “there is a consensus to develop specific methods for access to information which intrude slightly more on individual liberties than we would for common law crimes. But we must do this on the strict condition that [these methods] are always accompanied by compensatory measures which protect individual liberties”, he said. He added that given the persistent threat, even such states as Denmark, considered to be the most resistant to applying certain restrictions to their citizens, were starting to change their point of view.
The Treaty and the future of JHA: “It is exciting to see my post with the prospect of the entry into force of the revised treaty. Once the treaty enters into force, Mr Solana or his successor will be vice president of the Commission and president of the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers (…) We will have considerable means at our disposal in our dialogue with third countries”, the Belgian said. On the future of JHA, he believes that thanks to the existing instruments, such as the visa information system (VIS), “we will have a vision of security in the broadest sense” and more “fragmented” - as in the past. Borders will no longer be thought of only in terms of “immigration flows”, but also in terms of “internal security”, he said. Finally, given the inextricable relationship between internal and external security, we went as far as to appeal in favour of “a 'security contract' in the broadest sense, in which we place development, access to markets, legal and illegal immigrations flows, and also security with police and judicial cooperation”. (bc)