Fighting Terrorism at the EU Level

When Germany's anti-terror register finally comes into being, it won't just make things easier for German officials -- it will also improve cooperation with the European police force, EUROPOL, which is already working on an EU-wide counter-terrorism database.

At its headquarters in The Hague, EUROPOL has computers where EU member states can save names and relevant details about terrorist suspects or witnesses. Additionally, the databanks contain information on organized crime, drug smuggling and human trafficking. The computer system, TECS, can compare and analyze as many as a million data sets.

The data is entered into the system directly by the 25 EU member states. Each country is represented by its own liaison officer, or ELOS, in The Hague. As a rule, only these liaison officers have access to the national databanks.

If a member state wants to find out whether there is information in TECS on a terror suspect, EUROPOL puts together an information packet -- a service that EUROPOL's director, Max-Peter Ratzel, is intent on putting first.

"Terrorism is, of course, very much in the foreground, because that's where the biggest risks lie," Ratzel said. "We have to do everything possible in order to identify and eliminate threats, so that we can offer member states the means to avoid danger. We only need a few people to filter out the right information; the member states are then responsible for acting on that information."

Privacy advocates are critical though, about the fact that the member states can relatively freely feed data into TECS which is then consolidated into suspect profiles. TECS saves the data for a period of at least three years.

EUROPOL got its start in the mid-90s as an agency to fight drugs-related crime. Gradually, it's grown into an institution with a staff of 500 whose main task is to organize information exchanges.

Other EU networks

In addition to EUROPOL's databanks, five of the largest EU states -- France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany -- share a computer network aimed at fighting terrorism. Seven states --France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria and Germany -- have also signed a pact to improve cross-border cooperation of their police forces when it comes to the arrest, search and trailing of suspects.

But cross-border cooperation of police is by no means comprehensively regulated across the EU, and many states have misgivings. EU Commissioner for Justice and Security Franco Frattini has been pushing for stronger cooperation, and is hopeful progress will be made given the current threat.

"There is now, I think, a consensus among the member states that it's important to really work together," Frattini said. "We have to stay on the ball."

A directive by the EU's interior ministry to retain Internet and phone data to aid police investigations is, after the introduction of Europe-wide arrest warrants, a necessary step, Frattini said. He is also working on other legislative measures to put on the table by the end of this year. The EU would like to introduce tougher controls on the production and trade in explosives, for example. It's also looking into why and how Muslim youths in Europe are being radicalized.

Personal freedom still a concern

Frattini stresses that civil liberties should not be sacrificed in the drive for better protection from terrorists. In this respect, he said, the United States with its far-reaching curtailments on telecommunications secrecy is no role model for the EU.

"This is our political challenge," Frattini said." If terrorists force us to restrict our freedom, then the terrorists win. We can never allow that to happen."

Although much has been achieved when it comes to improving police cooperation at the European level, the EU's anti-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries bemoans the fact that in some areas, progress has been too slow. He said he is hopeful that EU interior ministers will eventually give up their opposition to majority-rules decisions at the European level.

"There's a lot of demand for the EU to help its member states more effectively," de Vries said. "I hope that the discussion about a transition from unanimous to majority decisions will be a motivating factor to do more than we have in the past."