Europol bolsters EU’s counterterrorism capabilities

“Our ambition is for the European Counter Terrorism Centre to become a central information hub in the fight against terrorism in the EU, providing analysis for ongoing investigations and contributing to a coordinated reaction in the event of major terrorist attacks. Europol is grateful for the support of the Member States, the European Parliament and the European Commission in the establishment of the ECTC. It will lie at the heart of a stronger EU standing up to the threat of terrorism,” said Europol’s director Rob Wainwright.

Europol says it has used this trend of increased information sharing to upgrade its counter terrorism capabilities. The aim is to raise trust and awareness among the different counter terrorism authorities in the EU and maximize existing capabilities. By serving as a center of expertise, ECTC will focus on tackling foreign fighters, sharing intelligence and expertise on terrorism financing (TFTP [Terrorist Finance Tracking Program]and support by the FIU.net [Financial Intelligence Units]), online terrorist propaganda and extremism (Internet Referral Unit), illegal arms trafficking and international cooperation to increase effectiveness and prevention.

The European Union Internet Referral Unit’s main tasks are to:

  • coordinate and share the identification tasks (flagging) of terrorist and violent extremist online content with relevant partners
  • carry out and support referrals quickly, efficiently and effectively, in close cooperation with the industry
  • support competent authorities by providing strategic and operational analysis

Since 1 January 2016, Europol’s financial intelligence and counter terrorism capabilities have been substantially strengthened by the integration of a decentralized computer network of the European Union Member States’ Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), known as FIU.net. Under the auspices of the EU FIU platform and the renewed provisions set out in the IV Anti-Money Laundering Directive, the embedment of FIU.net into Europol aims to create more synergy between financial and criminal intelligence, ultimately boosting efforts to fight organized crime and terrorism in the EU.

FIU.net became operational in 2002 and was co-financed until 2015 by the European Commission. It supports relevant EU Member States’ authorities in their fight against money laundering and terrorist financing by allowing the exchange of information between FIUs on financial transactions with a cross-border nature. It is a decentralized network, involving no central storage of information: when sending information from one FIU to another, the exchanged data is only, and securely, stored on the FIU.net databases at the premises of the FIUs involved in the exchange.

These tasks are carried out by receiving requests from the European Union Member States or through the research for content online and are performed in accordance with the data processing rules set up in the Europol Council Decision.

Europol says it will provide the Member States, and its key partners like Interpol and Eurojust, with new possibilities to ensure the most effective management of counter terrorism intelligence:

  • upgraded information exchange for sensitive counter terrorism intelligence (Secure Information Exchange Network Application, or SIENA, and Europol Information System, or EIS)
  • the possibility to second experts to the ECTC to support enhanced cross-border investigations, capable of providing quick and comprehensive response to major terrorist incidents in the EU

The ECTC will be led by Manuel Navarrete Paniagua, a high ranking officer of the Spanish Guardia Civil with extensive practical counter terrorism experience. He was already the head of the counter terrorism unit at Europol. Currently, thirty-nine staff members and five seconded national experts work in the ECTC. Working alongside other operational centers at Europol, such as the European Cyber Crime Centre (EC3), the ECTC will be a constituent part of Europol, under the general command of its Director, and will serve to augment the organization’s capabilities as the EU’s law enforcement agency.