Political agreement has been struck at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers on two main planks of the response to last September’s terrorist attacks in the United States – although a deal has yet to be reached on establishing a European Union-wide arrest warrant system to replace the need for extradition proceedings.
In what may be a sign of decreasing anxiety over terrorism (given the military successes in Afghanistan and the low levels of activity by Islamic fundamentalists in the past two months), the Council of Justice and Home Affairs ministers missed a self-imposed deadline to write a package of laws onto the European Union statute book by 2002.
Nonetheless, agreement has been reached in principle on the harmonisation of anti-terrorist laws within the EU, ensuring that all Member States outlaw terror offences (henceforth to be defined in a structured manner) and punish any offences more stringently with tougher prison sentences. In future, national Governments will send all criminals found guilty of working with terrorist organisations to jail for anything between eight and 15 years.
A similar deal has been struck over the establishment of Eurojust, the proposed network of EU-wide judicial organisations which is supposed to ensure that courts and prosecutors help eachother with the serving of writs, extradition warrants and the exchange of all other relevant legal documentation.
That said, the final detailed approval for this scheme is still some months down the line (such that the original scheme deadline set by European Union Heads of Government back in 1999 will now be missed).
Meantime, political agreement has yet to be reached over the establishment of an EU-wide arrest warrant – despite the fact that 14 of the 15 Member States are in support of such a detailed plan. The plan would include a list of 32 offences for which a warrant may be issued, as long as those offences are punishable by at least three months in prison.
There’s better news regarding the effectiveness of EU decision making concerning an agreement between the EU’s ‘policing’ agency, Europol, and the US over the exchange of ‘strategic’ information. An agreement that’s now been approved by ministers in Brussels. Negotiations are now taking place for an accord covering the swapping of personal information.
In addition, a co-operation agreement between Europol and US Government officials covering the fight against serious crime (and encompassing terrorism) was signed on Thursday 6 December. The agreement covers the prevention, detection, suppression and investigation of all relevant offences.
Security Management Today has also been informed that the Council of Europe – a political body including eastern as well as western European nations – has finalised the main points of a detailed convention on aviation security (affecting both the airports and airlines using them). The proposed measures are similar to those already agreed by the EU post-11 September, and are based on guidelines drawn up by the European Civil Aviation Conference.
For its part, the International Civil Aviation Organisation is preparing to stage a ministerial conference on tightening security for airlines and airports worldwide. This will be held on 19-20 February in Montreal.
