IR313 EU AS A GLOBAL ACTOR
TACKLING TERRORISM
SUMMARY
• 9/11 has become a major foreign as well as domestic policy issue
• European Security Strategy (ESS) identified terrorism as one of the main security
threats facing the Union
• Terrorists may plan attack in one country, ensure financing from a second country,
conduct the crime in a third country and seek refuge in a fourth.
• Mainly under U.S pressure, the EU has had to develop its own policies to tackle
terrorism
EUROPEAN SECURITY STRATEGY
• The European security strategy (ESS), adopted by the European council on 12-13
December 2003, provides the conceptual framework for the common foreign and
security policy (CFSP), including what would later become the Common Security
and Defence Policy (CSDP).
• The split between EU member states over the us-led invasion of Iraq in 2003
highlighted the need for a common strategic vision to enhance internal cohesion at
EU level.
• Member states thus tasked the then high representative for the common foreign
and security policy, Javier Solana, to draft such a strategy.
EUROPEAN SECURITY STRATEGY
• Titled ‘a secure Europe in a better world’, the ESS is a brief but comprehensive
document which analyses and defines for the first time the EU’s security
environment, identifying key security challenges and subsequent political
implications for the EU.
• In this framework, the ESS singles out five key threats:
• Terrorism
• Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
• Regional conflicts
• State failure
• Organised crime.
SUMMARY
• These have had external dimension as the EU has had to negotiate with
international partners and seek their cooperation for counter terrorist policies.
• EU has provided increasing technical assistance to third world countries in an
effort to tackle terrorism at source.
• The EU has much to offer the international community from police and judicial
cooperation to border management from enhanced information exchange to data
protection, from legislation to policy funding and from national to regional
cooperation.
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• Terrorism is sometimes referred to as the world’s second oldest profession, has
moved to the top of the international political agenda
• It has replaced the Cold War as the main security threats - at least in the
perception of many in the developed world
• Several EU member states have a long history of dealing with terrorism
• These include the UK and the IRA, Spain and ETA (the Basque conflict) and Italy
and the Red Brigade
• But with the Al-Qaeda attack on New York twin tower – the threat of terrorism
rose to the top of the agenda in the EU as well as in the US
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• The Madrid bombings in 2004 and the London bombings in 2005 and the recent
attack in Paris, 2015 were a grim reminder that nowhere is safe from terrorism.
• Many member states have had the experience in fighting national terrorism but
now they have to adjust to fighting a new type of international terrorism which is
often not conducted as a way of achieving a clearly defined aim such as the
Basque independence in Spain nor is it confined to a particular country.
• The international dimension of terrorism has increased significantly as a
consequence of globalization, the world wide reach of media, international
banking systems, the ease of foreign travel and cyber revolution.
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• These developments has led to significant changes in the EU itself.
• This can be seen in the third pillar of the EU that deals with justice and home
affairs (JHA)
• Border control, transnational crime, illegal migration and asylum are all sensitive
issues but above all it has been terrorism that has propelled the Union to greater
cooperation in the JHA field.
• New institutions such as Europol, Eurojust and the European Police College (CEPOL)
have been established
EUROPOL
• Europol is the European Union’s law enforcement agency whose main goal is to
help achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU citizens. We do this by
assisting the European Union’s member states in their fight against serious
international crime and terrorism.
• Almost 800 staff at Europol headquarters in the Hague, the Netherlands, works
closely with law enforcement agencies in the 28 EU member states and in other
non-EU partner states such as Australia, Canada, the USA and Norway.
• Europol officers have no direct powers of arrest but support EU law enforcement
colleagues by gathering, analyzing and disseminating information and
coordinating operations.
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• The EU agenda in fighting terrorism is based on :
• Prevention
• Protection
• Prosecution
• Consequence management
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• Prevention – tackling money laundering as well as the root causes of terrorism
• (Money laundering, at its simplest, is the act of making money that comes from source A look like it
comes from source B. In practice, criminals are trying to disguise the origins of money obtained through
illegal activities so it looks like it was obtained from legal sources. Otherwise, they can't use the money
because it would connect them to the criminal activity, and law-enforcement officials would seize it).
• Protection – is concerned critical infrastructure and securing people and places
• Prosecution – involves closer judicial cooperation including the European arrest warrant
• Consequence management involves – minimizing the risk of terrorist attacks and limiting
the damage if one was to occur.
• EU provides technical assistance to over 80 countries in fighting terrorism
• EU has found it easy to draw action plans but less easy to translate into actions
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• Main problem in the EU – coordination
• Everybody says they are in favor of coordination but nobody is in favour of being
coordinated – Dutch MEP, Vries
• The reflex of interior ministers is of course to protect their powers at national level
even though the fight against terrorism is a global one
• There have been continuing concerns about the abuse of human rights in tackling
terrorism
• European public opinion has been highly critical of U.S methods in Guantanamo
Bay and Abu Ghraib prison.
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• The EU has had to accede to U.S requests to tighten security and to provide
advance passenger data on all those travelling to the U.S
• How the EU deals with its own large Muslim communities also has foreign policy
implications as their treatments is watched closely by many Islamic states.
• The publication of cartoons about Prophet Muhammad in Denmark sparked
widespread demonstrations against European embassies in many Muslim countries
in 2006.
• It was considered by many the worst foreign policy crisis for Denmark since 1945.
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• Rioting Muslims youths in France or the arrest of extremist Imams in Britain can also provoke unrest
abroad.
• What is the cause of this new terrorism?
 Corruption
 Lack of democracy in the Islamic world
 Deficient socio economic development
 Perception of Western support for corrupt regimes
 Drawn-out armed conflicts
 Alleged hypocrisy of the West concerning the Israeli-Palestinian dispute
 War in Iraq
TERRORISM IN EUROPE
• Security experts also talked a lot about the widespread feeling of despair that is
often the motive for terrorist attacks.
• Overall, the EU approach has been to emphasise a comprehensive approach to
tackling terrorism
• Its leaders have avoided the rhetoric of the U.S and prefer to talk of the fight
against terrorism instead of a war on terror.
• One of the problems of EU effort is that not all member states and not all citizens
have the same perception of the threat partly because there is a wide variation
in the number and location of the attacks
TACKLING TERRORISM
• The creation of European Borders Agency
• EU leaders have also agreed on the need:
• to identify factors that contribute to the recruitment of terrorism both within the
EU and internationally and develop a long term strategy to address this.
• It calls for a continued investigations into the links between extreme religious or
political beliefs as well as socio economic and other factors and support for
terrorism, building on work already undertaken in this area and identifying
appropriate measures.
TACKLING TERRORISM
• The EU has also agreed to evaluate third country activities in counter terrorism
and to insert counter terrorism clauses in agreements with priority countries.
• These countries include: Pakistan, Iran, India, Afghanistan and countries of Central
Asia.
• The EU is also willing to help countries enhance their capabilities in counter
terrorism.
• Difficulties – coming up with a long term strategy to address the factors which
contribute to radicalization and recruitment for terrorist activities.
- To secure agreement for common visa rules.
TACKLING TERRORISM
• EU also has difficulties due to different capabilities of member states in being
able to provide credible threat assessments.
• Member states are reluctant to share sensitive or intelligence information
EU STRUCTURES
• JHA plays a leading role
• Within the JHA Council there are two working groups dealing with terrorism
• The Terrorism Working Group (TWG) composed of representatives of member states ministries of
the interior/law enforcement agencies, deals internal threat assessments, practical cooperation
and coordination among EU bodies and meets 3 times per Presidency.
• The working party on Terrorism (COTER) deals with external aspects and is mainly composed of
representatives of member states ministries of foreign affairs. It meets monthly and deals with the
implementation of UN conventions and threat assessments with regard to third countries and
regions.
• There is certain rivalry between the two groups due to the difference in working cultures and
objectives of the parent bodies.
EU STRUCTURES
• Europol serves as a central databank on terrorism and maintains a computerised
information system for consultation by member states
• It has a special counter terrorism taskforce that specialises in the profiling Islamic
terrorists.
• However, it is handicapped by lack of Arabic speakers
• It has limited human and financial resources
• Its annual budget is 94.4 million euros compared to MI5 450 million euros
• Its role has remained limited to the collection, transmission and analysis of data
provided by national police forces
EU STRUCTURES
• Different legal systems in member states make coordination difficult
• Eurojust (THE EUROPEAN UNION'S JUDICIAL COOPERATION UNIT) was set up in
2002 to improve the effectiveness of the prosecuting and investigating authorities
in the member states by promoting cooperation, providing information on judicial
cases and liaising with other countries like the U.S
• In the Eurojust, each member states is represented by senior and experienced
prosecuters or judges.
• Bern Club – informal meeting of the heads/chief of foreign intelligence service
agencies from EU member states plus Norway, Switzerland and the U.S.
INTELLIGENCE SHARING
• Intelligence services are by definition reluctant to share information, stressing the
importance of the source of protection
• Traditionally there is a high level of distrust among intelligence services
• They prefer to work on bilateral level and to exchange minimum amount of
information
• The problem with intelligence sharing in Europe is that there are too many
bureaucratic, institutional and linguistic burdens which in fact give the advantage
to the terrorists
• There is lack of coordination, lack of cooperation, communication and also lack of
vision.
INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION
• At the UN, the EU has increased its support for international efforts.
• EU has secure support for the Convention Against Nuclear Terrorism and continues
to promote agreement on a General Convention Against Terrorism
• EU experts have joined UN teams on counter terrorism fact finding missions in
Algeria, Albania, Kenya and Morocco.
• EU has financed counter terrorism projects in Morocco and Algeria.
• The largest funding goes to reduce nuclear and chemical stockpiles in Russia.
INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION
• With the U.S four agreements have been negotiated: on container security, airline
passenger name records, extradition and mutual legal assistance.
• A high level dialogue has been set up to discuss border and transport security
• European and American customs officials work closely
• U.S. Secret Service and FBI also have officials at Europol
• EU believes that reduction in the gap between rich and poor needs to be worked
on to combat terrorism
THE IMPACT ON MINORITIES IN EUROPE
• Western policies may in fact increase the threats they seek to counter
• Pressures of modernization, cultural social and political crises, and the alienation
of young people living in foreign societies
• The fight against terrorism is not a war against Islam
• The media often preach a different story