JOINT DECLARATION ON COMBATING TERRORISM

Transcription

1 R É P U B L I Q U E F R A N Ç A I S E COMMISSION DES AFFAIRES EUROPÉENNES Paris, 30 March 2015 LE PRÉSIDENT JOINT DECLARATION ON COMBATING TERRORISM The Presidents and representatives of the European Affairs Committees of the Bundesrat of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain, the Senate of the French Republic, and the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, which currently holds the Presidency of the European Union, in presence of a representative of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Denmark 1, meeting in Paris on 30 March 2015, hereby declare: Having regard to the terrorist acts committed on the soil and against the citizens of the Member States of the European Union in recent years and in 2015, and the risks related specifically to the developing international context, Having regard to the Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on combating terrorism and the Council Framework Decision of 28 November 2008 amending the said framework decision, Having regard to the European Union's strategy to combat the radicalisation and recruitment of terrorists, adopted on 30 November 2005 and revised in 2008 and 2014, Having regard to the conclusions concerning combating terrorism adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council on 9 February 2015, 1 Lord Boswell of Aynho, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords and outgoing Chairman of the European Union Committee, also attended the meeting but, because of the dissolution of the United Kingdom Parliament on 30 March 2015, was unable to take part formally in the agreement of the Chairpersons' declaration as Chairman of the committee.

2 - 2 - Having regard to the declaration by the members of the European Council of 12 February 2015 on combating terrorism, Having regard to the work and the positions of the parliamentary assemblies of the European Union Member States represented here, Considering that terrorism constitutes a direct attack on the fundamental values listed in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, on which the Union is founded; that these values are common to all the Member States; Considering that in the name of the fundamental values listed in the said Article 2, European citizens have the right to a high level of security; that combating terrorism and use of the means granted for this purpose to the Member States must respect the values of the Union and the rule of law; Considering that the Union respects the essential functions of the State, particularly those concerning the guarantee of its territorial integrity, the maintenance of public order and the safeguarding of national security, and that the said national security is the sole responsibility of each Member State; Considering that the Union is an area of freedom, security and justice which respects the fundamental rights and different systems and legal traditions of the Member States; that the Union works to ensure a high level of security through coordination and cooperation measures between the police and judicial authorities and other competent authorities, and at least, through mutual recognition of judicial decisions on criminal matters; Considering that, under the treaties, the Member States are free to organise between them and under their responsibility the forms of cooperation and coordination they consider appropriate, between the competent departments of their administrations responsible for national security; Considering that the role of the national parliaments is to ensure respect of the subsidiarity principle, in accordance with the protocol on the application of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles;

3 - 3 - Considering that there is currently a serious, and undoubtedly long-lasting terrorist threat against the European society, which justifies a joint urgent response; Considering that the European Union already has a number of instruments it can use as preventive measures to combat terrorism and thereby reduce the threat; that the operational implementation of these instruments is however inadequate; that the increased use of these instruments must be accompanied by intensified cooperation between the various departments responsible for internal security in the Member States; Considering that this more developed cooperation shall not preclude an in-depth analysis into the causes of the terrorist phenomenon in our societies and the means of remedying this phenomenon in the longterm, through joint actions, particularly in the educational sphere; On the definition of terrorist offences: Consider that there is a need to take more note of the definition of foreign terrorist fighters as laid down in Resolution no of 24 September 2014 of the United Nations Security Council on "foreign terrorist fighters", for the purpose of "the perpetration, planning, or preparation of, or participation in terrorist acts or the providing or receiving of terrorist training, including in connection with armed conflict..."; On the revision of the Schengen Borders Code and the control of external borders: Note that, currently, the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (FRONTEX) can only give the Member States occasional support of limited duration for targeted operations; consider that a stronger coordination role should be assigned to FRONTEX within the European Union; Wish the measures to identify persons such as the Schengen Information System (SIS II) to be perfected; Invite all the Member States, taking into account the terrorist threat, to reflect more actively on the definition of a European visa policy; On introducing a European PNR system: Consider that the proposed Directive on the use of passenger record data to prevent and detect terrorist offences and serious forms of criminality, commonly known as the "PNR Directive", should be adopted

4 - 4 - urgently, in compliance with the essential guarantees on protection of personal data; Emphasise that this measure, which is essential for harmonising the operating criteria of national PNR, could, after the initial period of application, be evaluated, re-examined or reinforced; state that in all cases, the European PNR could be adjusted to integrate the future framework of personal data protection currently under discussion; On effectively combating sources of terrorist financing and arms trafficking: Emphasise the need to stem sources of terrorist financing, particularly through money laundering and arms trafficking; consequently request the resolute enforcement of European legislation on this matter, the rapid adoption of the proposed Directive by the European Parliament and the Council on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing, which updates the existing legislation, the legislative proposals announced for 2015 by the European Commission on combating traffic in firearms, and increased coordination of national policies within the Union; Re-emphasise the fundamental role of international cooperation in combating money laundering and firearms trafficking under conditions guaranteeing protection of individual rights; On the reinforcement of police and judicial cooperation: Emphasise the fundamental role of the two European agencies, Europol for police cooperation and Eurojust for judicial cooperation; insist on the fact that their potential could be developed; Consider that Europol's capacities should be better used and request the national services of the Member States to provide the necessary information more systematically; Wish Europol to play a role in the exchange point of informations between the national authorities in charge of criminal investigations; call for an improvement in the transmission of informations to Europol On the role of the Internet in combating terrorism: Re-emphasise the responsibility of private Internet providers and wish to see them more involved in combating terrorism;

5 - 5 - Request the reinforcement of financial and human resources in the Europol section dedicated to the search and sharing with Member States of information relating to Jihadist terrorism on the Internet; Consider that the proposed Directive on measures intended to guarantee a higher common level of network and information security in the Union should be adopted urgently; Call for the integration of a dimension of IT security in the IT training given under the "ERASMUS+" programme; On an educational strategy of precaution and combating radicalisation: Support the development of European networks aimed at making all European stakeholders aware of the phenomenon of radicalisation and offering solutions in terms of counter-speech, in particular the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN); On the reinforcement of international cooperation: Emphasise that combating international terrorism must be an external action priority for the European Union and its European External Action Service (EEAS); that it is obviously important to build a global partnership with regional stakeholders in the most sensitive parts of the world, and that this dialogue, if it is able to combine both security and development needs, could help to reduce the terrorist threat in the longterm; On the evaluation of existing instruments: Wish to carry out a systematic evaluation of the efficiency of all the instruments the European Union currently has for combating terrorism, whether legislation or agencies or other European bodies.