BigBadBrian
03-07-2005, 12:38 PM
EU counter-terrorism chief's efforts hampered by turf wars
Financial Times
By Sarah Laitner in Brussels
Published: March 7 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 7 2005 02:00
Shortly after last year's devastating train bombs in Madrid, European Union member states appointed Gijs de Vries, a former Dutch deputy interior minister, the bloc's first co-ordinator of its anti-terrorism efforts.
The top priority for Mr de Vries was to bring together counter-terrorism efforts coming out of Brussels and monitor how EU countries were implementing measures.
However although the attacks led to a renewed impetus to improve police, judicial and security co-ordination across the bloc, Mr de Vries has run into delays and turf wars among member states, a situation he acknowledged in an interview with the FT.
"In several of our countries we must do more to speed up the implementation of our legislation," he said ahead of the one-year anniversary on Friday of the bombings. Mr de Vries said the bloc remained vulnerable and that the 25 member states should prioritise preparations for coping with a possible chemical, biological or nuclear attack.
He also called for more international co-operation to combat terror financing and said member states should boost protection of infrastructure and transport.
The anti-terrorism supremo operates within narrow confines and with little support: there is no Europe-wide equivalent to the US's CIA, FBI or Homeland Security department.
"The role of the union is not to supplant our member states but to support them in working internationally. But the main thrust of Europe's defence against terrorism remains firmly at the level of national governments," he said.
As such, experts say the EU has in the past year made little progress in co-ordinating the nitty-gritty of intelligence swapping and judicial and police co-operation or working out what Brussels' role should be.
With decision-making resting firmly within the 25 member states, EU initiatives touted in Brussels as important anti-terrorism efforts have fallen victim to political wrangling.
Despite coming out with tough rhetoric on the need to co-operate after the attack, countries embarrassingly took a year to agree on the new head of Europol, the fledgling pan-European police agency.
The agency, designed to help police forces exchange and analyse information, has been overlooked by some countries wary of going through an extra layer of bureaucracy.
While better police co-operation has borne fruit - for example when a suspect in the Madrid bombings was arrested in Milan in June after work between several countries' police forces - the process is still riddled with problems.
"It is difficult to measure what the EU does or does not do [on counter-terrorism]. Its member states carry out 99 per cent of the work," says Daniel Keohane of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. "The EU is more co-ordinator than actor."
In addition to the Europol debacle, an agency to monitor the EU's external borders has been delayed, with countries failing to agree on which city should house it. Efforts to make cross-border searches for criminals easier through a common arrest warrant have also been hampered by countries such as Italy failing to implement the measure.
"Why spend so many working hours on agreeing these things if you don't implement them?" asks one frustrated diplomat.
More generally, officials say intelligence agencies have continued to operate bilaterally, as has always been the case, rather than going through Brussels.
Financial Times
By Sarah Laitner in Brussels
Published: March 7 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 7 2005 02:00
Shortly after last year's devastating train bombs in Madrid, European Union member states appointed Gijs de Vries, a former Dutch deputy interior minister, the bloc's first co-ordinator of its anti-terrorism efforts.
The top priority for Mr de Vries was to bring together counter-terrorism efforts coming out of Brussels and monitor how EU countries were implementing measures.
However although the attacks led to a renewed impetus to improve police, judicial and security co-ordination across the bloc, Mr de Vries has run into delays and turf wars among member states, a situation he acknowledged in an interview with the FT.
"In several of our countries we must do more to speed up the implementation of our legislation," he said ahead of the one-year anniversary on Friday of the bombings. Mr de Vries said the bloc remained vulnerable and that the 25 member states should prioritise preparations for coping with a possible chemical, biological or nuclear attack.
He also called for more international co-operation to combat terror financing and said member states should boost protection of infrastructure and transport.
The anti-terrorism supremo operates within narrow confines and with little support: there is no Europe-wide equivalent to the US's CIA, FBI or Homeland Security department.
"The role of the union is not to supplant our member states but to support them in working internationally. But the main thrust of Europe's defence against terrorism remains firmly at the level of national governments," he said.
As such, experts say the EU has in the past year made little progress in co-ordinating the nitty-gritty of intelligence swapping and judicial and police co-operation or working out what Brussels' role should be.
With decision-making resting firmly within the 25 member states, EU initiatives touted in Brussels as important anti-terrorism efforts have fallen victim to political wrangling.
Despite coming out with tough rhetoric on the need to co-operate after the attack, countries embarrassingly took a year to agree on the new head of Europol, the fledgling pan-European police agency.
The agency, designed to help police forces exchange and analyse information, has been overlooked by some countries wary of going through an extra layer of bureaucracy.
While better police co-operation has borne fruit - for example when a suspect in the Madrid bombings was arrested in Milan in June after work between several countries' police forces - the process is still riddled with problems.
"It is difficult to measure what the EU does or does not do [on counter-terrorism]. Its member states carry out 99 per cent of the work," says Daniel Keohane of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. "The EU is more co-ordinator than actor."
In addition to the Europol debacle, an agency to monitor the EU's external borders has been delayed, with countries failing to agree on which city should house it. Efforts to make cross-border searches for criminals easier through a common arrest warrant have also been hampered by countries such as Italy failing to implement the measure.
"Why spend so many working hours on agreeing these things if you don't implement them?" asks one frustrated diplomat.
More generally, officials say intelligence agencies have continued to operate bilaterally, as has always been the case, rather than going through Brussels.