Taking aim at the terrorist threat

Date: 22/12/05

Migration and counter-terrorism issues feature prominently in Austria's plans for its EU presidency.

Interior Minister Liese Prokop has promised to stress the international dimensions of many dossiers. "We have to act boldly in and out of Europe," she said earlier this year.

On the fight against terrorism, Vienna has said that there needs to be "targeted action towards priority third countries" and that any agreements that the EU signs with the wider world should be conditional on foreign states committing themselves to tackling extremism. EU diplomats regard Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as countries deserving attention, where preachers of hate have been able to win significant numbers of recruits.

Paul Wilkinson from the EU Institute for Security Studies feels that the Union's policymakers should concentrate on boosting the wherewithal of foreign countries to fight terrorism during 2006. "Unless we can develop an effective global strategy and ensure that it is implemented, we will not succeed in unravelling the al-Qaeda network," he said.

Prokop has stated, too, that she wishes to make progress on implementing an action plan on the "recruitment and radicalisation" of young Muslim men by terrorist godfathers, which was recently approved by the Union's justice and interior ministers. This commits the Union to developing a legal framework against incitement to and legitimisation of violence. Civil libertarians fear that it could lead to curbs on freedom of expression.

The Austrians say they are also eager to promote greater co-operation against crime in general. A body co-ordinating the activities of anti-corruption authorities in member states is to be formed in 2006, while decisions on the greater exchange of data on criminal records and on requiring one member state to recognise a sentence handed down in another are also expected.

The Austrian government, which includes the far-right Freedom Party, has a reputation for adopting a populist stance towards asylum and migration questions.

Prokop argues that a common approach to countries of origin for asylum-seekers is essential for implementing the asylum procedures directive which was approved by the Council of Ministers at the beginning of this month.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has condemned provisions in that law that mean certain countries are considered 'safe' and asylum-seekers reaching the EU from those countries can automatically be sent back. The UNHCR argues that every asylum-seeker has the right to have his or her claim assessed.

It appears likely also that there will be much discussion during the Austrian presidency about developing a common policy on expelling people who live in the EU illegally. Officials in the Commission are drafting a new law on minimum standards for expulsions.

This could prove controversial. Human rights groups have argued that such standards must avoid breaking up families and that they should allow detention only in exceptional circumstances and countenance the use of force only in cases where somebody being expelled behaves violently.

Austria's Foreign Minister has promised a bolder approach towards foreign states during her country's Presidency of the European Union. Article is part of a European Voice Special Report previewing the Austrian Presidency of the EU, January - June 2006.