Fighting terrorism without sacrificing civil liberties

On 10 March 2005, the European Parliament commemorated the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004, which left 191 dead and 1800 injured, two and half years after the terror attacks on New York and Washington. Following these tragic events the European Union stepped up its efforts to combat terrorism. On the very day the Madrid bombings took place Parliament adopted a resolution in which it called for 11 March to be declared a European day to commemorate the victims of terrorism. EP President Josep Borrell attended the opening of a memorial to the victims of the train bombings next Friday 11 March 2005 in Madrid.

This background note describes measures taken in recent years by the European Parliament on the anti-terror front, in the course of which MEPs have done their best to strike a balance between security concerns and civil liberties.