Frattini keen to speed up EU anti-terror machine
HELENA SPONGENBERG
15.09.2006 @ 09:58 CET
EU terror prevention efforts are "stuck" in member states' decision-making machinery, EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini has said - but Denmark is warning against rushing through laws which would harm citizens" rights.
"Shall we just sit around and wait for the next European terrorist bombs?" Mr Frattini asked on Thursday (13 September) talking to Danish newspaper Politiken.
“Shall we just sit around and wait for the next European terrorist bombs?” Mr Frattini asked (Photo: European Commission)
Despite numerous proposals and yearlong negotiations, EU countries are still very far from being able to fight terrorism in unity, Mr Frattini explained.
"It is too slow. Far too many proposals, which could help investigations in Denmark and other places, are stuck," the commissioner said.
The statements come just a few days before EU justice and home affairs ministers meet in Finland next week.
Mr Frattini said that proposed EU rules for the exchange of security information are blocked because member states are unable to agree on them - despite the major bomb attacks in Madrid in 2004 and in London 2005.
He mentioned the lack of a common definition of the rights of terror suspects and exchange of personal data between member states' police as examples of where the EU is stuck.
The bloc's common legal system requires the agreement of all member states in criminal justice issues before a decision can be made - making it difficult to get terrorism laws through at the EU level.
The EU constitution made a move toward scrapping the veto in this area but was shelved after being rejected in two referendums last year, with the European Commisison now pushing to remove the justice veto in the current EU treaties.
However, Mr Frattini met with criticism from Danish justice minister Lene Espersen.
Ms Espersen agreed that decisions could be made faster, but she also stated that further cooperation should not take place on behalf of citizens' rights.
"I would rather have that things take time, and that the citizens are secured in their rights rather than making rushed new laws," Ms Espersen said, calling it a classic mistake when Mr Frattini, following recent terror threats, automatically wants to put more regulations in play.
This summer, UK police prevented a terrorist attack planned to take place on several cross-Atlantic flights while Denmark at the beginning of the month arrested nine men on the suspicion of planning a terror action somewhere in Europe.
UK home secretary John Reid last month spoke about a "real" and "persistent" terror threat to Europe as a whole while stressing the importance of the same legislation being put in place across the bloc.
But Ben Ward from the NGO Human Rights Watch said, according to Politiken "It is not clear to me why the EU have to get so involved in police work. It is beginning to look like the commission's very control-focused access to immigration. The EU should rather do more to secure that basic freedom rights are not broken in the fights against terrorism."