Ministers step up efforts to fill anti-terrorism post

Justice and interior ministers will discuss appointing an EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator on Monday (17 September) amid pressure from member states and the European Parliament.

Portugal had said it intended to fill the post during its presidency, which ends in December, but some member states, led by the UK, are urging the issue to be made more of a priority. MEPs also voiced concerns during a debate in plenary last week that six months after Gijs de Vries vacated the post, it still remains empty.

De Vries, who held the post since it was created in March 2004, suggested this week that the reason why the post had not been filled up to now is because "most ministries are in favour of co-ordination but not all like to be co-ordinated".

The UK is keen to see the post enhanced and involve greater powers, an issue being considered by Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, and a point which will form the focus of the ministers’ discussion.

De Vries, at a conference organised by the Centre for European Policy Studies on Monday (10 September), said that the role should involve getting different ministries to work together. "Ministers of the interior and ministers of foreign affairs have a lot to discuss, for example. Ministers of finance and ministers of foreign affairs with respect to financing of terrorism would be another example," he said.

"If you want to prepare for a bioterrorist attack you absolutely have to get the national ministries to work together not just in Brussels. In practice that means a lot of hard work behind the scenes to link responsible civil servants at the right time to each other and channel proposals through the system."

De Vries warned that the EU was "at risk of losing momentum" if it did not speed up the implementation of the strategy on counter-terrorism. He said that EU member states needed to work harder to prepare responses to chemical, biological or nuclear attacks and identify critical infrastructure which must be specifically listed for protection against threats.

He said that the EU’s role was "in the sphere of policy and legislation and financial initiatives and external relations", adding that it should not interfere in how member states managed their counter-terrorism investigations. "The role of the EU is not in co-ordinating the day-to-day operational activities of the dozens of services in the member states, that has to be done close to the questions on the ground."

A restriction on passengers carrying liquids aboard planes was "implemented for good reason" and "most people see it as a price they are willing to pay", De Vries said. The European Parliament last week called on the Commission to review the regulation because of the inconvenience it was causing to passengers.

German police said they seized hydrogen peroxide-based liquid explosives during last week's arrests as part of their investigation into foiled attacks.

Justice and interior ministers will discuss appointing an EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator on Monday (17 September) amid pressure from member states and the European Parliament.