Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I wish to thank you for inviting me to speak at one of Europe’s leading congresses on internal security, and not least at your 20th anniversary.
We find ourselves today at a very critical moment in history, where different global developments are threatening Europe’s unity and cohesion.
Security and migration are among the foremost concerns of our citizens.
And while both issues are different and should be approached differently, they have two things in common.
They are both transnational in character and affect all of us regardless of borders.
And, secondly, both issues are prime targets for populist rhetoric and exploitation.
This means that: even though migration and terrorism seem to put into question the cohesion of the EU, they can only be tackled through a joint European approach.
An approach which is true to our founding European values, to international law, and to our duty towards our citizens. European citizens know this.
They expect concrete responses, and they want more, common European responses to these issues. European citizens want to feel secure.
We are surrounded by conflicts, which result in massive population displacements. While staying true to our fundamental values, of human rights, democracy, dignity – we have a duty to also guarantee the security of our citizens.
Our openness and security must go hand in hand. Starting from our external borders: in the globalised, digitised and volatile neighbourhood we inhabit, they are our first line of security, but also the enabler of mobility.
This mobility is significant for our societies, and our economies. Mobility will only increase but it cannot come at the expense of our security.
We need to have better knowledge of who crosses our borders, and if they pose a threat once they are on EU territory.
At the same time, we want to ensure that those people who have a right to travel, a right to be here and a right to protection are not hindered to enter the EU.
We are not creating Fortress Europe. Europe will always welcome people to its shores. But in order for our internal borders to remain open, and in order for people to travel freely across the Schengen area, our external border management needs to improve.
It is the only way to safeguard Schengen and the free movement to which Europeans are so attached.
One of the milestones of last year has been the creation of the European Border and Coast Guard.
With the deployment of border guards and experts, it is already supporting Greek and Italian authorities continuously.
All migrants and refugees arriving there are now systematically registered and fingerprinted.
We now have a rapid reaction pool of 1500 border guards that can be deployed in five days in any Member State if there is sudden pressure building on the external border.
Beyond the border guards on the ground, better border management is also about better information.
Systematic checks will now be carried out for all those who cross our external borders, whether they are EU or foreign nationals.
This will make it easier to detect terrorist suspects and returning foreign terrorist fighters. Our information systems need to improve in this context.
This is why, for example, we proposed to reform the Schengen Information System in December, so that no critical information is lost on potential terrorist suspects or irregular migrants crossing our borders.
We have also proposed an Entry-Exit System for our external border, to reinforce border check procedures for non-EU nationals travelling to the EU.
A new European Travel Information and Authorisation System will allow us to have an additional security and irregular migration check for non-EU travellers coming here visa-free.
Finally, we are rapidly implementing our European Passenger Name Records framework, to further help the identification of potential threats to the Union.
Of course, having all these systems in place at our borders will only bring added value if the information they contain is connected and combined, if the systems talk to each other.
Our information management at the moment is too complex and fragmented. Key information is not shared. There are leads which are not followed. Our systems have blind spots because they were created as silos.
This brings me to what happened here in Berlin in December. This city has been hit hard at a moment when innocent Berliners were preparing for the Christmas holidays.
Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Nice. Over the past two years, Europe has been hit hard by brutal terrorist attacks.
The police and law enforcement authorities are in the frontline here – across the entire European Union.
I want to pay tribute to all the colleagues in uniform for their dedication and professionalism.
What is also crucial here, is that the suspect travelled across several EU countries to get to Milan, before being detected.
What this shows once again is that dealing with terrorism together is not only necessary: it is inevitable.
Terrorists know no borders. And neither should our response. We have a shared responsibility towards our citizens to create an effective and genuine Security Union.
We must make sure that the structures for cooperation are as effective as possible.
Trust is an essential element here. In a genuine Security Union, a police officer in one Member State should share relevant information with colleagues over the border as with fellow officers in his own country.
This means that he also has to introduce the data in the relevant EU systems.
To improve the situation at the European level, we need to urgently address gaps, fragmentation, and structural limitations of our information exchange in Europe.
We made progress in detecting and preventing terrorist movements.
We are also progressing in our fight to deprive terrorists of the means to commit attacks.
I am pleased that last week there was an agreement for an EU legislation on combatting terrorism in the European Parliament, one year after the deadly attacks in Paris.
It will criminalise terrorist travel, terrorist financing and all forms of facilitation.
We also introduced rules on firearms, and we are tightening our implementation of rules on explosives precursors. But terrorism is not only a European phenomenon.
Our cooperation and information exchange with key third countries is essential.
Two weeks ago I was in the US to meet our new counterparts. To pass strong messages on the need for the transatlantic cooperation – not only to continue, but to be strengthened further.
The fight against terrorism is not one Europe can fight without the US. We need the US working with us to address this threat – which is common for both of us.
And I was encouraged to see, that our American friends still see eye to eye with us on this challenge.
We of course also need to cooperate closer to home. For example, many illegally trafficked weapons come from neighbouring regions, like the Western Balkans, which also have their own problems with radical extremism. Again, cooperation, trust, and joint action are essential.
The main responsibility for national security will always lie with the Member States, but Europe is needed, here again, to help addressing threats that are clearly transnational.
We need to move towards the idea of protecting our collective security. Because the security of one Member State is the security of all Member States and the Union as a whole.
This is precisely why, within Europol, one year ago we launched the European Counter Terrorism Centre.
It has already demonstrated its operational added value, by providing immediate support to Member States hit by major terrorist attacks.
The Centre is there to help us. The more we use it, the more information we share with it, the more experts we send to it – the more useful it will be against terrorism.
Beyond that, we must be proactive in fighting terrorism and reinforce our efforts to address radicalisation.
We have to understand why some of our citizens are becoming radicalised, and how we can prevent this. Our practitioners in the Radicalisation Awareness Network work on the ground daily with communities against this phenomenon.
Beyond the community level, the internet is our most critical battleground. Especially when it comes to our youth, but also people that arrive in Europe and become radicalised here,on European soil.
We have seen also those cases recently. Our work with major internet companies in the EU Internet Forum focusses precisely on this: removing terrorist propaganda from the internet permanently, and strengthening positive counter-messages.
Next month, I will travel to the US to meet the internet companies again to ensure that we continue delivering concrete results in this area.
Beyond the internet, it is crucial that our understanding of security is not constrained by artificial distinctions between ‘internal’ and ‘external’.
Our security is a continuum. Threats in our neighbourhood materialise at our front door.
Our efforts therefore cannot be limited within the EU’s borders. Strengthening our relations with partner countries in the area of counter-terrorism is a sine qua non.
This is why we have upgraded security and counter-terrorism cooperation with partner countries in the Western Balkans and around the Mediterranean, such as Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey.
With the support of security and counter-terrorism experts deployed in our EU delegations in Ankara, Beirut, Tunis and Sarajevo, we are developing concrete cooperation projects.
Turning to the sensitive issue of the “infiltration” of migratory flows by terrorists, let me be clear: refugees arriving on European soil, looking for protection, are precisely fleeing terrorism back home.
The EU will therefore never be a Fortress Europe: we must continue to live up to and deliver on our fundamental traditions of solidarity, responsibility and openness.
However, this openness cannot come at the expense of our security, and we have to act against those who abuse the system.
This is why we have taken the necessary measures to make sure that our openness is not abused. The European Border and Coast Guard as well as Europol are doing security checks in the hotspots in Italy and Greece.
But is it also the responsibility of each police officer to introduce data and biometrics in our common information systems and to consult the systems when needed.
Those migrants who have no right to stay in the EU have to be returned as quickly as possible to their country of origin.
We will soon come forward with new initiatives in this area to ensure that returns function properly.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we will continue to work with our Member States and our agencies, to forge effective European responses to the threats we are facing.
I encourage our Member States to facilitate information exchange related to terrorism or other serious cross-border security threats.
I am convinced that, through cooperation, we can achieve our aims, which are to sustain and strengthen both our mobility and our security.
Finally, allow me to express again my deep and sincere appreciation for the work that police and security forces across the EU perform on a daily basis, sometimes under very difficult circumstances,
in order to guarantee the security of our EU citizens. This would not be possible without their professionalism and self-sacrifice, and I want to make clear that the Commission is well aware of the tremendous burden put on your shoulders.
I would also like to thank and commend Germany which has played a leading role, and I wish to thank my German colleague and friend Thomas De Maizière.
As I said in the beginning, we find ourselves today at a turning point where we not only need to strengthen our fight against terrorism, but also reinforce our defences and our resilience as a Union.
And this is the task of all of us, at all levels.
Thank you.