Terrorists do not sit still, and nor should we.
EU Commissioner Julian King: Toughened EU anti-terror laws mean those
travelling to Syria to fight for Da’esh, or those receiving terrorist training,
face criminal prosecution. (Photo:European Parliament)
By JULIAN
KING
In the past week, Europe has once again been struck by terror.
In Barcelona and Cambrils, Spain, and in Turku, Finland, attacks have
killed and injured citizens from across the continent, and across the
world.
Barcelona: struck by a terrorist attack last week, claiming the lives of 13 people and leaving many more injured. (Photo: Derek Winterburn)
Those sad events remind us that, today, no corner of Europe is immune,
and no country unaffected.
By whatever means they are pursued, there is nothing noble in these acts
of cowardice. There can be no justification for such murder and
violence.
Faced with these threats, citizens - rightly - expect us to do more than
just condemn after the fact. Maintaining people’s security is a primary role of
any government, and it is certainly a priority of the current European
Commission, too.
We cannot promise that such attacks will not occur again. I wish we
could, but in this - as in other areas - there is no such thing as “zero
risk”.
What we can do is make it harder and harder for those who would seek to
perpetrate murder and atrocity.
Closing loopholes
Terrorists need weapons. New EU laws, agreed earlier this year, restrict
gun ownership, and close loopholes that were so tragically exploited nearly two
years ago in Paris.
Meanwhile, we continue to intensify our fight against illegal trafficking
through routes like the Balkans. And we've tightened controls around the
materials used to build home made explosives.
Terrorists need money. Last December, we proposed new ways to combat
money laundering, to tighten controls on illicit cash movements, and to freeze
and confiscate the assets of suspected or convicted criminals and
terrorists.
And terrorists need to move. We are making it harder for them to do so.
Since last April, anyone seeking to enter or leave the EU’s Schengen
passport-free travel zone faces new security checks.
Countries will share information about those flying to, from or within
Europe, under new EU rules on passenger name records agreed in April 2016 - even
if many EU countries still need to get moving to implement those
rules.
Under our proposals for a European travel information and authorisation
system, those hoping to visit the EU would have to undergo checks before even
setting foot on European soil.
Finally, we are working to improve how Europe's different law enforcement
information and databases talk to each other, making it harder for terrorists to
assume different identities in different countries, or otherwise slip through
the cracks.
Terrorists do not sit still, and nor should we. As we crack down on one
form of terror, they find others to pursue. They adapt to changing technology
and changing trends, and so should we.
Tackling radicalisation
So we are also taking upstream action to tackle radicalisation. EU
networks help national practitioners learn from each other and support those on
the front line of challenging radicalisation in our communities.
The European internet forum, grouping internet companies and national
authorities, tackles radicalisation online. Around 90 percent of the terrorist
content identified by Europol, the EU's police cooperation agency, gets taken
offline, and we're working with the internet companies to make detection more
automatic.
Toughened EU anti-terror laws mean those travelling to Syria to fight for
Da’esh, or those receiving terrorist training, face criminal
prosecution.
The European Commission is working with national and local authorities to
identify and spread the best practice in protecting so-called 'soft targets',
such as public spaces, airports, stations, schools or hospitals.
In September, I will be meeting City leaders from across the
Euro-Mediterranean region, who are gathering in Nice to reinforce their efforts
to tackle radicalisation and protect their citizens.
This is not the first time Europe has faced a terror threat. In recent
decades, we have seen the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the Red Brigades, the Basque ETA
separatist group, and the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
But today’s threat is more global. It targets our European way of life,
seeks to divide our communities, and undermine our values.
When it comes to security, national authorities remain the first line of
responsibility, and the first line of defence. But the EU can and does provide
significant support: improving information sharing on potential threats,
boosting cooperation, and cutting the space available for terrorism to thrive
and spread.
When terrorism strikes, citizens across Europe rise up to show their
compassion for victims, and their revulsion at the attackers’ nihilistic
worldview: Je Suis Paris, I Am London, No tinc por.
We need to show that same solidarity and determination, redoubling our
efforts at local, national and European level to defeat those who seek to do us
harm.
Julian King is the European Commissioner
for the Security Union. EU
Observer.
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