EU to boost intelligence sharing
Fri 19 March, 2004 15:09
By Marie-Louise Moller
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union ministers have agreed to boost intelligence sharing as Europe faces the fact it may be a target for Muslim militants, but France has made clear the EU's big five states will control the flow.
Interior and justice ministers, holding emergency talks on Friday on beefing up security after the Madrid train blasts, backed the appointment of a counter-terrorism coordinator to help clear obstacles to the EU's fight against terrorism.
Stressing practical cooperation, they shied away from grand proposals for a European CIA, preferring German and European Commission ideas for a board or "clearing house" through which countries would share intelligence on terrorism.
As ministers met, a Belgian prosecutor announced that police had detained several suspected Islamic militants, including one wanted in connection with the 2003 bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, in a series of raids in Brussels, Antwerp and Tongres.
France said it, Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain -- the EU's five biggest members -- would lead the way in security cooperation and intelligence sharing.
"We have the most important intelligence services... We are used to working together," French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters. But he said it was unrealistic to expect them to share sensitive data with 25 nations or 50 ministers.
"Intelligence is the most difficult and complex thing to share. You have to protect your sources, which is already hard enough to do within the same country," he said.
In an example of the way the Big Five dominate the security debate, their ministers met separately before the EU session.
Another major focus was on implementing measures such as a common European arrest warrant and joint investigation teams, agreed after the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities, but which some member states have yet to put into effect.
"We don't want new institutions. We want action on those measures that have already been agreed," Home Secretary David Blunkett told reporters.
DATABASE, REGISTER, WEAPONS
Ministers gave outgoing Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes an easy ride. German Interior Minister Otto Schily did not repeat accusations that Spain had misled its EU partners by suggesting Basque militants perpetrated the Madrid attacks.
"The (Spanish) government never lied to anybody," said Acebes, who was jeered by some Spanish journalists on arrival at the meeting. "He (Schily) never asked me for any information."
The ministers agreed to speed up the use of biometric data in visas and passports and sought to set a firm deadline for a database of all visas issued to non-EU citizens, seen as key to boost security and the fight against illegal migration.
They also sought a timetable for an upgrade of an EU law enforcement database known as the Schengen Information System, and harmonisation of how long telephone companies and Internet service providers must keep records.
Ministers supported a proposal by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to appoint a European security coordinator to drive forward EU work in different areas -- set to be endorsed at an EU summit next week.
Other plans drafted by the Commission after last week's Madrid train bombings, which killed 202 people and wounded more than 1,800, include a database of terror suspects, a register of convicts and better tracing of arms and explosives.
The EU executive said exchange of intelligence should focus on how terrorist groups recruit members, identification of "sleeper cells", sources of funding, and links outside the EU.
EU leaders are expected to dramatise their solidarity with Spain next week by invoking a clause that commits EU states to assist any member hit by terrorism without waiting for it to take legal effect in a stalled EU constitution.
Ireland has drawn up a list of other steps including a tougher drive to cut off suspected sources of terrorist finance, such as charities and informal remittance transfer networks.
reuters.co.uk
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