Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-21-Speech-4-014"
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"en.20000921.1.4-014"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Member States of the European Union are unanimous in condemning terrorism, whatever the motives of the groups of criminals carrying out terrorist attacks, and so the Council of the European Union is just as firm in its condemnation of all the forms of terrorism carried out on European territory. I should like to point out that at the Summit of the Heads of State and Government which was held on 19 and 20 June this year in Santa Maria da Feira, in Portugal, the Council expressed its outrage at the tragic events related to terrorism in Europe and vigorously reaffirmed its commitment to continuing to fight terrorism at European level and to stepping up and intensifying cooperation between Member States in this area.
Finally, I cannot, of course, fail to mention the current priorities of the French Presidency of the European Union in the area we are discussing this morning. In particular, the French Presidency wishes to improve and intensify the cooperation between Member States, but also to extend this cooperation yet further to include the candidate countries. This is both legal and police cooperation, which will no doubt one day lead to the harmonisation or unification of criminal charging systems. The Spanish Government, for example, would like a European arrest warrant to be established.
Among the priorities of the French Presidency I should particularly like to mention the initiative to establish a programme of information and measures to be undertaken in order to prepare for the accession of the candidate countries to the European Union. This approach is intended to enable us to increase our knowledge of their counter-terrorism organisations and to increase awareness in countries which do not
have any specific experience in this field.
In order to draw up an accurate picture of the terrorism situation within the European Union, and this is the second priority of our presidency, we wished to continue the practice of providing an opportunity at each meeting of the working group of exchanging information on recent developments in terrorism in each of the States.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is this system, with a combination of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, which very recently, in fact just a few days ago, made it possible to achieve some remarkable successes in the fight against terrorism in Spain.
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Since France currently holds the Council Presidency, at this point I would particularly like to express our solidarity in the face of the terrorism in Spain, which is the most deadly in Europe at the present time. Clearly, the European Union cannot possibly tolerate Spanish terrorists using the construction of Europe as an alibi in order to justify their claims. In no instance can violent nationalism be compatible with the ideals of the European Union. Combating all forms of terrorism is therefore a priority for the European Union in order to achieve the area of freedom, security and justice set as a goal by the Heads of State and Government at the Tampere Summit in October 1999.
Of course, alongside the multilateral cooperation implemented by the European Union bodies, there is also particularly effective bilateral cooperation, and we have recently seen the results of French and Spanish operational cooperation. It is the role and the responsibility of the European Union in combating terrorism in general, and therefore also terrorism in Spain, which I wished to discuss this morning in my capacity as co-chairman, together with Elisabeth Guigou, the French Minister of Justice, of the Justice and Home Affairs Council.
If you will allow me briefly to outline the story so far, the cooperation between the Member States of the European Union on internal security originated in 1976, at the time of the Trevi groups. These informal groups, which met every six months, were, from the outset, a reflection of the determination to have police cooperation in a number of areas, including on terrorism, which was of particular concern to the members of the Trevi I group.
Cooperation in police matters, an idea developed at the Trevi Conference, led to the establishment of a network of liaison officers. The implementation of this network, undoubtedly the most effective cooperative network, was the result of the action programme adopted in Dublin in June 1990 by the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the twelve Member States at that time. It involves exchanges of information between experts posted in specialised departments in the various Member States. These liaison officers are responsible for exchanging information, but also for supporting the relevant departments in an advisory role. I think it is safe to say by now that this network of liaison officers has very clearly demonstrated its effectiveness by facilitating the smooth running of police inquiries in real time.
In the context of cooperation on justice and home affairs, a specific counter-terrorism working group was also established, subsequently, by the Maastricht Treaty. This Experts Group on terrorism was confirmed by the Treaty of Amsterdam, clearly demonstrating the need for a body within which the representatives of the fifteen Member States have the opportunity to meet to exchange views and cooperate.
The work of this group was what led the Council to adopt two important decisions which I would like to remind you of. In 1996, the Council adopted a Joint Action establishing a European Directory of specialised counter-terrorist competences, skills and expertise, and stipulating that it be maintained. Moreover, at the end of 1999, the Council adopted a recommendation on cooperation in combating the financing of terrorist groups.
I should also at this point mention the role played by the European Police Office, Europol, in combating terrorism. From the outset, the Convention of 26 July 1995 establishing the European Police Office stipulated that this police cooperation body would be competent to deal with 'crimes committed or likely to be committed in the course of terrorist activities against life, limb, personal freedom or property'. The initial wording of the Convention stipulated that Europol’s mandate would be extended to terrorism within two years at the latest of the Convention’s entry into force, which was on 1 October 1998.
As you know, there is a Europol department dedicated to combating terrorism. This was a request from Spain and so, naturally, a leading official from Spain was given the job of managing that department. In view of the criminal activity undertaken at that time by some terrorist groups, the Justice and Home Affairs Council, which met on 28 and 29 May 1998, took the decision to authorise Europol to bring forward its counter-terrorism activities and have them begin on 1 January 1999."@en1
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