Solana steps up effort to fill anti-terrorism post

Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, is expected to fill the post of EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator soon but with a strengthened role and mandate.

Efforts to fill the post, which was vacated by Gijs de Vries, a Dutch politician, in March, have intensified after the terrorist incidents in the UK this week.

Member states support boosting the position, with Wolfgang Schaüble, Germany’s interior minister, saying that the current job description and mandate were "not sufficient".

"The construction of the post is not sufficient…the matter now is to look for a new construction. Until now it has been a position of the Council [of Ministers] but that is not effective enough," he said, in an interview with European Voice.

The role could involve stronger powers in scrutinising police co-operation across the EU and monitoring how relevant EU legislation is functioning, an EU official said. The post could also involve an enhanced role in co-operating with third countries on counter-terrorism.

There are suggestions that the post could involve co-ordination of anti-terror activities across the EU institutions. But the official said that this was "out of the question", as it would involve the new anti-terror co-ordinator stealing powers from the European Commission.

Franco Frattini, the European commissioner for justice, freedom and security, said that it was up to the Council to decide if the post should be strengthened, but added: "The Council is leading the co-ordination of the intergovernmental area while I am leading the communitarian [European Community] area of the issue."

The post is expected to be filled by appointing a candidate from a large member state, said one diplomat.

The position has remained vacant since de Vries stepped down because Solana and his office have not had time to find a replacement. Instead, they have focused their attention on the crises in the Middle East and with Iran, as well as on reform of the EU’s institutions. But the recent terrorist incidents in the UK have highlighted the need to step up co-ordination against terrorism at EU level and are expected to boost efforts to fill the post.

Frattini on Tuesday (3 July) announced that he would be introducing legislation in the autumn to criminalise the posting of information about bomb-making on the internet and that he intended to set up a database to track the storage and use of explosives across the EU. He reiterated his intention to introduce a European system for collecting information on airline passengers entering the EU. Frattini said that he wanted each member state to set up a national unit to collect and store such information, which includes credit card details, passport number and who a passenger is flying with.

Frattini said that he was also sending out a questionnaire to all member states asking how they deal with religious education and prevent radicalisation. He said that this was intended to "protect the large majority of Muslims living here peacefully".

Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, is expected to fill the post of EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator soon but with a strengthened role and mandate.