Sixth progress report towards an effective and genuine Security Union

This is the 6th monthly report on the progress made towards building an effective and genuine Security Union and covers developments under two main pillars: tackling terrorism, organised crime and cybercrime and the means that support them; and strengthening our defences and building resilience against those threats.

On 7 April 2017 Stockholm became the latest victim of a terrorist attack when a truck was hijacked and driven deliberately through a busy pedestrian shopping street before crashing into a department store, killing four people and injuring fifteen. This attack came less than three weeks after the 22 March attack on London and its Houses of Parliament where a vehicle and a knife were used to create carnage in a busy and symbolic location. The low-tech nature of both attacks, similar to those perpetrated in Nice and Berlin last year, once again highlights the challenge posed for Member States' authorities in countering such threats and also the importance of the ongoing work under the Security Union on soft target protection.

This report provides an update on progress made on key Security Union legislative and non-legislative files. It also includes a particular focus on combating serious and organised crime – one of the three core areas of the 2015 European Agenda on Security. In the context of the work being done on the new EU Policy Cycle for serious international and organised crime for the years 2018 to 2021, this report sets out what in the Commission's view should be the future EU priorities on combating serious crime and organised crime.

Organised crime is a key enabler of terrorism, helping terrorists to acquire weapons and financial means. Increasingly, the border between cybercrime and "traditional" crime is also disappearing as criminals harness the Internet both as a way of scaling up their activities and as a source of procuring means and finding new methods of committing crime. Terrorism, organised crime and cybercrime are thus interlinked areas, and supporting the fight against organised crime is a key priority for action at EU level under the Security Union.