Dies ist eine HTML Version eines Anhanges der Informationsfreiheitsanfrage 'Fight against terrorism: follow-up to the statement of the Member States of the European Council of 12 February 2015'.


 
 
 
 
 
 

Council of the 
 
 European Union 
   
 
Brussels, 11 June 2015 
(OR. en) 

   
 
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JAI 404 
COSI 59 
COPS 161 
ENFOPOL 128 
COTER 69 
SIRIS 39 

 
 
FRONT 111 
COPEN 144 
DROIPEN 55 
CFSP/PESC 203 
CATS 61 
EUROJUST 113 
CYBER 54 

 
NOTE 
From: 
Presidency 
To: 
Permanent Representatives Committee/Council 
No. prev. doc.: 
6891/15 
Subject: 
Fight against terrorism: follow-up to the statement of the Member States of 
the European Council of 12 February 2015 on Counter-Terrorism 
 
 
DOCUMENT PARTIALLY ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC (30.06.2015) 
Introduction 
1. 
In the light of the tragic events and counter terrorism operations in several Member States in 
early January 2015, the Presidency dedicated discussions of Ministers of Home Affairs to the 
fight against terrorism during the informal meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in 
Riga on 29 January 2015. In addition, the judicial aspects of terrorism were discussed by the 
Ministers of Justice on 30 January 2015. As a result, the Riga Joint Statement was adopted 
which served as a contribution of the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs to the informal 
meeting to the Heads of State or Government on 12 February 2015. 
 
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2. 
The Statement of 12 February 2015 by the members of the European Council stressed the 
commitment to further reinforce action against terrorist threats, in full compliance with human 
rights and the rule of law. Members of the European Council provided guidance to work 
towards ensuring the security of citizens, preventing radicalisation and safeguarding values as 
well as cooperating with international partners. The Council was requested to make a detailed 
report on the implementation of these orientations at the June European Council. 
3. 
As a follow-up to the Statement of 12 February 2015 by the members of the European 
Council and to the Riga Joint Statement of 29 January 2015 by the Ministers of Justice and 
Home Affairs, the Council (Justice and Home Affairs – JHA) at its meeting on 
12-13 March 2015 identified four topics "where specific actions could be taken and 
significant results achieved in the coming months"1
– 
making full use of the existing Schengen framework to reinforce and modernise external 
borders' control; 
– 
addressing the issue of internet content promoting terrorism or violent extremism by 
enhancing internet referral capabilities; 
– 
increasing cooperation and information exchange in the fight against illicit trafficking of 
firearms and addressing as a matter of priority the critical issues of decommissioning 
and de-activation of firearms; 
– 
stepping up information sharing and operational cooperation, including through Europol 
and Eurojust. 
In addition to pursuing work on these four priority areas, the Council agreed to engage actively with 
the European Parliament in order to achieve decisive progress in the coming months on a strong and 
effective EU European Passenger Name Records (PNR) Directive with solid data protection 
safeguards. 
This report focuses on the Council’s work and the state of implementation of two work strands 
identified in the Statement of 12 February 2015 by the members of the European Council: ensuring 
the security of citizens as well as preventing radicalisation and safeguarding values. It also provides 
an overall assessment and suggests a possible way forward. 
                                                 
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The EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator has prepared a report on implementation of measures as a 
follow-up to the Statement by Heads of State or Government of 12 February 20152
4. 
As regards the external dimension, on 9 February 2015, the Council (Foreign Affairs) adopted 
conclusions on counter-terrorism welcoming the implementation of concrete initiatives in 
areas such as strengthening partnerships with key countries, supporting capacity building, 
countering radicalisation and violent extremism, promoting international cooperation as well 
as addressing underlying factors and ongoing crises. 
State of play 
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Overall assessment and the way forward 
1. 
Reasonable progress in the areas mentioned in the Statement of 12 February 2015 by the 
members of the European Council as well as in the areas identified by the Council (JHA) at its 
meeting on 12-13 March 2015 has been achieved. However, implementation of a number of 
actions has to be accelerated to achieve the expected results. 
Once the European Parliament approves its mandate for negotiations with the Council, it is 
crucial to start negotiations between the co-legislators as soon as possible with a view to 
reaching an agreement on strong and effective EU PNR with solid data protection safeguards 
before the end of this year. 
With regard to further implementation of the counter-terrorism measures, the Presidency 
would like to stress that common efforts should be focussed on measures and actions such as, 
for instance, coordinated implementation of targeted checks in accordance with the revised 
Schengen Handbook together with guidelines on common risk indicators, maximised use of 
both the SIS and the SLTD (having in mind the recommendations made by the SIS/SIRENE 
Working Party in December 20143) as well as maximised use of the API (Advance Passenger 
Information) data in view of better targeting border checks. Furthermore, the importance of an 
enhanced implementation of targeted checks at sea and land borders as well as strengthened 
technical ability of the Member States to carry out the relevant checks has to be underlined. 
Additionally, information sharing on foreign terrorist fighters to EIS and Europol’s Focal 
Point Travellers has to be continuously stepped up. 
With the regard to the fight against illicit trafficking of firearms, as discussed by COSI on 26 
March 2015, efforts should be concentrated on an accelerated implementation of those 
measures which are aimed at improving the information exchange on firearms, reducing 
access to illegal firearms, decommissioning and de-activation of firearms as well as 
cooperation with third countries. In this regard, the crucial importance of revising the 
legislative framework, inter alia by setting high minimum standards for firearms de-
activation, has to be highlighted. 
                                                 
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The intelligence and security services are encouraged to regularly inform decision makers 
about the situation on combating terrorist threats and to share strategic intelligence with the 
corresponding EU institutions, in particular, through the EU Intelligence Analysis Centre (EU 
INTCEN). 
As regards the EU IRU, taking into account that a six-month long pilot phase will start on 1 
July 2015, it is of the utmost importance to ensure fulfilment of all four tasks, assigned by the 
Council (JHA) at its meeting on 12 March 2015, that the EU IRU is fully operational by 1 
July next year. Finally, a cross-sectorial approach has to be followed, in particular in the light 
of preventing and countering radicalisation to terrorism. 
2. 
As stated in the draft Council conclusions on the renewed European Union Internal Security 
Strategy 2015-20204, the fight against terrorism will remain one of the priorities for the 
coming years in the field of the European Union internal security. A particular focus will be 
put on tackling and preventing terrorism, radicalisation to terrorism and recruitment as well as 
financing related to terrorism, with special attention to the issue of foreign terrorist fighters, 
reinforced border security through systematic and coordinated checks against the relevant 
databases based on risk assessment as well as integrating the internal and external aspects of 
the fight against terrorism. 
It is also planned that COSI, in close cooperation with the Commission and, where 
appropriate, by involving other relevant actors such as the European External Action Service 
and JHA agencies, would start developing a well-targeted implementation document with a 
list of priority actions to implement the renewed EU Internal Security Strategy for 2015-2020 
as soon as possible and by December 2015 at the latest. In this regard, the input of the EU 
Counter-Terrorism Coordinator should be considered. 
                                                 
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Hence, according to the Presidency, a number of measures provided in the Statement of 12 
February 2015 by the members of the European Council, several measures identified by the 
Council (JHA) at its meeting on 12-13 March 2015 as well as the relevant additional measures 
will be further addressed in the light of the renewed European Union Internal Security 
Strategy 2015-2020 and its implementation document. 
Member States, EU institutions and other relevant actors are encouraged to continue 
the implementation of the political orientations expressed in the Statement of 
12 February 2015 by the members of the European Council and by the Council (JHA) at 
its meeting on 12-13 March 2015. 
The Council is invited to exchange views on possible ways to ensure that these political 
orientations are fully put into practice in all Member States, inter alia by reflecting on 
how the relevant counter-terrorism measures could be further addressed in the light of 
the renewed European Union Internal Security Strategy for 2015-2020 and its 
implementation document. 
 
 
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