Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-07-Speech-2-062"
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"Mr President, I would first like to thank the seven rapporteurs for their exemplary work, which clearly shows that an all-embracing approach needs to be adopted towards the fight against terrorism, an approach covering many fields. I believe that these seven reports also demonstrate that Parliament attaches great importance to this issue of the fight against terrorism.
As part of another remit, in this case following on from the declaration on the fight against terrorism adopted by the European Council on 25 March 2004, on 2 December 2004 the Council and the Commission adopted the EU solidarity programme on the consequences of terrorist threats and attacks, which revised the CBRN programme and widened it to cover all forms of terrorism.
One of the fundamental principles of the EU strategy is that protection against the consequences of terrorist attacks is chiefly a matter for the Member States. Nevertheless, the declaration on solidarity against terrorism adopted by the European Council on 25 March 2004 confirms that the institutions of the EU and the Member States firmly intend to mobilise all the instruments at their disposal to assist a Member State on its territory at the request of its political authorities. In this respect, I feel bound to refer to the provision in the Constitution which strengthens the nature of solidarity, particularly in the case of terrorist attacks.
The CBRN programme, and its successor the solidarity programme, are multidisciplinary programmes involving political, technical, economic, diplomatic, military and legal resources. This is rather difficult, but there it is ...
In the context of the present solidarity programme, EU action against CBRN terrorism is based on six strategic objectives, which I would like briefly to mention.
Threat analysis and assessment: several analyses of these threats have been carried out by Europol and the EU’s Joint Situation Centre, SITCEN.
Prevention and reduction of vulnerability: legislative measures have been taken to improve compliance with international biosafety and biosecurity standards.
Detection of CBRN attacks: the Commission has taken steps to extend and coordinate the Community’s systems for detection, communication and information in connection with chemical and biological threats, as well as with human, animal and plant health.
Lastly, preparations to mitigate the impact of possible attacks: the Commission is assessing what capacity the Member States could make mutually available in terms of civil defence and as regards medical and pharmaceutical supplies. It is drawing up regulations for treating illnesses associated with these substances.
For its part, the Council has created a database of military resources, as well as capacity relevant to protecting civilians against terrorist attacks, including CBRN attacks. In the context of the European Security and Defence Policy aspects of the fight against terrorism, civil/military interoperability in the field of CBRN is in the process of being examined.
The Council is also carrying out work on an integrated crisis management system. International cooperation obviously has a very important part to play here: it broadly addresses the same objectives as the solidarity programme, that is to say the pooling of epidemiological information on cross-border transmission of contagious diseases, and cooperation on emergency planning, laboratory detection technology, non-proliferation, mutual assistance and response coordination. The United States is also taking part in this work. Another dialogue will be initiated at the appropriate time. We consider this international cooperation, particularly with the Americans, but also with all our other partners, to be extremely important in this context.
We are still feeling the enormous impact of the events of 11 September 2001 and the attack in Madrid on 11 March 2004. These cowardly attacks have affected all of us, both as European citizens and citizens of the world. They were attacks on democracy and on the values we stand for, and that is why the fight against terrorism needs to be uncompromising, but at the same time a fight for democracy. It would be wrong to defend democracy by undermining it. Many of the speeches we have heard this morning have called for terrorism to be combated more effectively and for there to be a clear commitment to the fight against terrorism and terrorist networks, while stressing that this fight should not threaten our democratic rights and civil liberties. We are faced with a constant balancing act here: we need to safeguard our rights and our freedoms while unremittingly confronting those who wish to put those same rights and freedoms at risk.
Before we proceed to the vote and before my colleague Vice-President Frattini takes the floor, let me just say this by way of conclusion: I believe that the European Union is engaged in a worldwide process of preparation for the fight against all forms of terrorism. The war on terror, as I said at the beginning, and as your reports have clearly demonstrated, requires a global approach. There is one issue that we particularly need to take to heart: we must prevent terrorist groups from recruiting within our own societies. In fact it is such recruitment within our societies, especially amongst rootless young people who are poorly integrated into our own societies, that represents the greatest terrorist threat. These young people to some extent represent a breeding ground for acts that are hard to imagine, acts which reflect a kind of despair. This means that our strategy for combating terrorism needs to include a social aspect, an aspect covering the integration and treatment of these groups, particularly young people, who come from Islamic countries. In this way we can win this battle here on our own territory within the European Union, and that is absolutely vital.
We are a long way from the Orwellian vision of an all-controlling state. However, we need to be vigilant if we wish to avoid any drift in that direction. Nor must we lose sight of the fact that terrorism exploits the full range of resources and new technologies and that it has become a global and globalised phenomenon, a network which makes use of the Internet just like any other globalised enterprise. If we are to stand up to this threat and fight this phenomenon, we can no longer afford to deprive ourselves of tools such as data retention.
Nevertheless, it is important to respect private life in this context. It is always a question of proportionality. I agree with the concept of protecting private life that has been raised. Having said that, we cannot forgo making use of certain technology if we are to remain effective in combating terrorism. Europe needs to lead the way here. It is noticeable that elsewhere there is a tendency not to take this protection of private life and individual rights seriously. Europe must show that the war on terror and respect for our rights can go hand in hand, without the effectiveness of that war being sacrificed or weakened.
I have also paid heed to the criticisms aired about the European Union as regards coordination and exchanges of information. Since the occurrence of these events, and in particular the attack in Madrid, there has been a great improvement in coordination, particularly thanks to Mr de Vries, who has been given a special remit to coordinate all the activities of the European Union and its Member States in the fight against terrorism. I would like to thank him for his work and his commitment in this area.
I also noticed that some people are concerned that Europe is not prepared for other kinds of threat, even more terrible than those involved in the two attacks I have already mentioned. There is bio-terrorism for example, a threat that is hard for us to grasp or imagine. It is possible, however, and it is a threat that cannot just be brushed aside. For that reason, we need to be prepared to deal with it.
I would also like to take this opportunity to reply to Mr Florenz’s question. He touched upon this very issue of the threat of bio-terrorism and that of nuclear terrorism. It is clear that this type of terrorism, which includes chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism, represents a threat to peace and international security. We know that terrorist networks have shown a keen interest in such substances and weapons and that, if they were able to lay their hands on such weapons of mass destruction, they would be in a position to inflict damage on an unprecedented scale and undermine the democratic foundations of our societies.
That is why this threat of biological, nuclear and chemical terrorism deserves to be given increased attention by the European Union. Parallels have been drawn with US legislation in this field. There is no doubt that Europe has a lot to learn from the United States, particularly as regards setting up special teams, stockpiling vaccines, carrying out research and development work on medical countermeasures, and so on. Some similar initiatives have already been taken by the Member States, and the institutions of the European Union have already committed themselves to activities of this kind. Accordingly, the Union now has an early warning system for all kinds of terrorist attacks, for which a central point called Argus will be created within the Commission. The directive amending the directive on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use now entitles the Member States temporarily to permit the distribution of authorised medicinal products in the case of an attack involving the spread of pathogens, toxins, chemical agents or nuclear radiation. Anti-CBRN training for medical staff is being implemented.
Information on civil defence capacity and blood banks is being exchanged as part of civil defence arrangements. Furthermore, wide-ranging research work is being carried out under the Sixth Framework Programme on Research and Technological Development to enable a better response to acts of this kind. The Council’s strategy against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is intended to prevent terrorists from gaining access to such weapons, and it is a matter for regret that the New York conference did not reach agreement on a common text, given that one aspect of the non-proliferation conference was the threat of terrorism in these areas."@en1
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