Strasbourg, EP plenary, 07/07/2015
Honourable Members,
Thank you, this time as well, for the opportunity, through your Oral Question, to debate further with you on the European Agenda on Security.
Thank you as well for the draft resolution – to be voted in 2 days – which I will of course take into consideration.
I hope that the resolution will have a wide support of this House.
As I have repeated (and many among you as well) several times, we need to show to our citizens that we all work together, on the basis of a shared Agenda.
Today’s debate happens on the 10th anniversary of the 7 July terrorist attacks in London.
Sadly it also happens only few days after another series of unacceptable terrorist attacks.
Even if this will be addressed specifically tomorrow, it shows that our security has to remain high on our agenda.
One year ago, in June 2014, the European Council asked the Union to renew and update the previous Internal Security Strategy 2010-2014.
All institutions have provided their contribution to this process in a coordinated fashion.
Following the last Commission’s report on the implementation of the ISS, the Council and the Parliament, both in December 2014, have paved the way for the Commission to develop its European Agenda on Security, adopted on 28 April 2015.
Last month, the Council adopted, on the basis of the Commission’s Agenda, conclusions on the development of the renewed European Union Internal Security Strategy 2015-2020.
The renewed Internal Security Strategy is the result of this process and it constitutes a major achievement for the EU, endorsed at the highest level by the European Council in its June summit, both in terms of content and in terms of cooperation among the institutions.
In terms of content, the new strategy sets out the shared vision of the three institutions for the next 5 years of what needs to be done at Union level to make Europe more secure for the sake of our citizens, societies and economies.
It identifies the main priorities for the Union’s action, namely tackling against terrorism and radicalisation, disrupting organised crime, and fighting against cybercrime.
From the institutional point of view, the Commission, the Parliament and the Council have acted together, each one offering their strategic contribution to the Security Strategy, in line with the spirit of the Lisbon Treaty. As the Commission put it in its European Agenda on Security, successful implementation on renewed Internal Security Strategy depends on the political commitment of all actors concerned to do more and to do better. This includes EU institutions, but also Member States and EU agencies.
In addition to active engagement, coordinated and coherent action is a prerequisite.
I therefore welcome the European Parliament’s call to the Commission and the Council, to work together towards, effective implementation and engage in an inter-institutional dialogue.
The Commission is also fully committed to maintain a constant dialogue with the European Parliament on internal security matters.
The Commission undertakes to update the European Parliament and Council, twice a year, on the implementation of the Agenda.
This will be the occasion to take stock together of both achievements and challenges faced, and to exchange views on the state of the EU internal security.
In addition, transparency contributes to increasing citizens’ confidence in security policies.
The Commission will therefore set up an EU security consultative forum to further enhance transparency and participation.
This forum will bring together Member States, the European Parliament, EU agencies and representatives of civil society, academia and the private sector. The forum will be finalised in due course, and the European Parliament will be kept informed.
In the same context, the Commission will also develop performance indicators for key EU instruments.
Now, when speaking about implementation of the Agenda, an important aspect is resources, including those of the EU agencies.
The European Agenda on Security has set, as one of its key principles, the need to ensure better application and full implementation of existing instruments.
Pursuant to this principle, implementing the Agenda will centre on consolidating the existing instruments and re-prioritising available resources.
This principle also applies to the agencies. For instance, the European Counter-Terrorism Centre (ECTC) within Europol is meant to bring together the anti-terrorism law enforcement capabilities, pooling resources and maximising the use of the existing legal structures, services and tools already available.
Of course, ensuring sufficient resources to EU agencies is key for them to be able to perform their work and to fully contribute to the goals of the Agenda.
As envisaged by the European Agenda on Security, the Commission will launch a reflection on how to maximise the contribution of all JHA Agencies, through closer inter-agency cooperation.
The Commission invites the Member States to assign appropriate resources at the national level, and to reinforce their efforts in seconding their national experts to agencies.
In a situation of limited budgets, all effort must be made to prioritise and reallocate.
Increasing the agencies’ budget is the only other way to increase resources.
As you know, the Commission is following the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 that foresees that all EU institutions and bodies, as well as all agencies, reduce their total staffing levels by 5% over five years.
This does not prejudge the budgetary rights of the European Parliament and the Council.
But any increase in the agencies’ resources would require the firm commitment and agreement of both branches of the budgetary authority.