Sunday

24th Sep 2023

EU intelligence agency not a priority

  • Police in Paris after 2015 terrorist killings (Photo: Reuters)

A European intelligence agency would take too long to set up and distract from the urgent work currently needed to tackle terrorism, said the European Commission.

Julian King, the EU commissioner for security, told reporters on Thursday (7 September) that terrorists won't wait for the removal of all the political and legislative barriers before such an agency could be established.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"I have to tackle the problems that we face right now. The terrorists are not waiting for us to review the treaties, they are not waiting for a constitutional discussion in Germany," he said.

Calls for an agency reappeared earlier this week when the EU commissioner for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said it would have helped prevent the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Belgium, France, Finland, Spain and the UK.

Similar calls for the creation of an EU intelligence agency have also been made by the leader of the European Parliament's liberal group (Alde), Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt.

But such plans are often seen as far-fetched given the secretive nature of national intelligence agencies and their reluctance to share information over broader fears it may get leaked, or disclose the sources.

Last year, a former agent at the EU's police agency, Europol, accidentally leaked some 700 pages of data on 54 different police investigations.

The EU has an intelligence analysis centre, known as Intcen, but is unable to gather its own intelligence. Most of its work is based on classified briefs, which it receives from a number of member states' national intelligence agencies.

Instead, King noted that the EU would continue to work on the broad range of policies already underway and prepare for "new objectives" set to be announced next week in commission president Jean-Claude Juncker's state of the union address.

The EU and authorities in member states have been grappling with spotty information sharing and, at times, failure to act on leads on people already known to the police.

US security services had, for instance, forewarned the Spanish authorities in May of pending attacks in Barcelona.

The US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) had said the Islamic State would carry out attacks in crowded tourist sites "specifically [Las Ramblas] street", where months later a man in a van then mowed down dozens of people.

At the EU level, it entails a massive push for making the EU databases on security, border, and migration management, interoperable.

Those plans kicked in following the aftermath of the Brussels terrorist attacks of March 2016, when EU officials spotted numerous issues with the databases.

The proposals now include creating a European search portal, a shared biometric matching service, and a common identity repository.

The shared biometric matching service is the finger print data held in all information systems and aims to make biometric data-searching possible across all of those systems in one search.

The common identity repository refers to core identity data for all of those systems, meaning the name, date of birth, or gender of anyone in the databases.

The EU agency that hosts the databases, the Tallinn-based eu-Lisa, is currently working on a two-phased study on setting up a shared biometric matching system.

The EU databases involved in the overhaul include the Schengen Information System, the Visa Information System, Eurodac, the proposed EU entry-exit system, the proposed European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), and the proposed European Criminal Records and Information System.

Spy agencies launch 'real-time' terror tracker

Intelligence agencies in Europe launched an "interactive operative real-time information system" in July to collect data on jihadist suspects, EUobserver has learned.

Opinion

Orbán's 'revenge law' is an Orwellian crackdown on education

On Tuesday, the Hungarian parliament passed a troubling piece of legislation known by its critics as the 'revenge law', which aims to punish and intimidate teachers who dare to defy Viktor Orbán's regime. This law is a brutally oppressive tool.

Latest News

  1. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  2. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  3. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power
  4. Here's the headline of every op-ed imploring something to stop
  5. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  6. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  7. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  8. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us