European securityEU should establish U.S.-style intelligence agency: EU president
The terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, just as the earlier ones in Madrid (2004) and London (2005), were a reminder that central pillars of the EU, such as the “area of freedom, security, and justice,” are being challenged. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission — the executive branch of the European Union (EU) – said that the EU member states’ mindsets and willingness to cooperate – crucial ingredients in the fight against terror – have not lived up to the challenge. The enduring lack of coordination between security services, police, and judicial authorities, at the national and the European levels, needs to be urgently tackled to reduce Europe’s vulnerability to such risks. To address and resolve these problems, and bolster European security in the face of terrorism, Juncker has proposed a European “Security Union.”
The terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, just as the earlier ones in Madrid (2004) and London (2005), were a reminder that central pillars of the EU, such as the “area of freedom, security, and justice,” are being challenged. Terrorists know no borders. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission — the executive branch of the European Union (EU) – said that although political commitments for joint European action have been made over decades, mindsets and willingness to cooperate – crucial ingredients in the fight against terror – have not lived up to the challenge. The enduring lack of coordination between security services, police, and judicial authorities, at the national and the European levels, needs to be urgently tackled to reduce Europe’s vulnerability to such risks.
Juncker has proposed a European “‘Security Union” which could be based on two key premises. Firstly, he notes, quoting the liberal philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt famously put it, without security, there is no freedom. It follows that freedom and security are two sides of the same coin and we must act jointly to uphold them.
The second premise proposes that cooperation makes Europe stronger: whereas national security remains firmly the responsibility of each Member State, threats to European safety and wellbeing are transnational and multifaceted. No Member State, even the biggest or the most powerful, can face them alone.
Juncker instructed the European Politicl Strategy Center (EPSC), the EU think-tank, to write a report on ways to bolster European security, and the report has just been published.
The EPSC report says that te new threats that challenge Europe’s security – nationally and at the level of the Union – are ever more complex and dynamic. Terrorist organizations are inherently transnational and operate both on the ground and as a virtual brand. They are organized in networks and sustain themselves through “hot swapping”: the ability to swiftly reorganize when a cell or unit is taken down without compromising the operations of the system. Against this backdrop, individual action by single nation states has proven insufficient. Furthermore, old means simply do not work. The threat is intrinsically cross-border in nature and of European scale.
