Video: https://youtu.be/
Dear all,
First of all, I would like to thank the Dutch presidency and Ard van der Steur for the work done so far in the area of Justice and Home affairs. I truly appreciate your dedication and commitment in this field.
Yesterday, I presented our ideas towards a genuine Security Union and how to address the current gaps and fragmentation in our fight against terrorism. Today, I had the opportunity to discuss with the Ministers these ideas and to see how we can build on the substantial work of the European Agenda on Security, which started exactly one year ago.
I have said it yesterday and repeated it today: First: the security of one Member State is the security of us all, secondly: fragmentation of policies, legislation, and actions across Europe, make us all vulnerable.
Even though we have made important progress on different actions in the past year, it is even more important that we actually implement, and that we work closer together at all levels in the European Union and trust each other. I underlined this point during the meeting and Ministers share this point of view.
Yes internal security is a national competence – but terrorism is not limited to national borders. We need a shift of mind-set. For example, we need to improve information sharing as we have seen in the contexts of the horrible terrorist attacks in the last months.
Today we have taken an important step in this direction in the form of the EU PNR Directive. Following last week’s overwhelming majority in the European Parliament, I am particularly pleased that the Ministers unanimously adopted the EU PNR Directive today, finally wrapping-up a long-standing process. The EU PNR Directive will improve the safety and security of our citizens, while also including robust privacy and data protection safeguards, ensuring full compliance with the right to data protection. I call on Member States to start implementing this instrument as soon as possible.
Also, today we discussed our proposal for an ‘Entry-Exit System’. The establishment of an Entry-Exit System will speed up, facilitate and reinforce border check procedures for non-EU nationals travelling to the EU. The Entry-Exit System will also modernise external border management by improving the quality and efficiency of controls and support Member States with the increasing numbers of travellers entering and exiting the EU. The Ministers reassured me today that they will treat this proposal as a matter of priority.
Furthermore, the Commission has launched a broader discussion on how to optimise the interoperability and information sharing in the EU and improve border management and internal security. First of all, Member States need to consistently and comprehensively feed all databases. I have explicitly called on Member States today to send full data on Foreign Terrorist Fighters to Europol. At the same time, to be useful, our data systems must be complementary, searchable, inter-operable and inter-connected – with one single click. We are in favour of gradually developing a Single Search Interface, to facilitate the job of law enforcement authorities. This is the architecture we need to overcome the fragmentation which makes us vulnerable.
Collectively, we are all safer. We will not address terrorism by looking inwards. In order to start moving toward a genuine and effective Security Union, we must start with more trust and more sharing. The time has come for a culture change, and for delivery. Let’s stop repeatedly calling for all of this, and really acting on it.