essays Intelligence, emergencies and foreign policy: The EU’s role in counter-terrorism # Hugo Brady about the CER The Centre for European Reform is a think-tank devoted to improving the quality of the debate on the European Union. It is a forum for people with ideas from Britain and across the continent to discuss the many political, economic and social challenges facing Europe. It seeks to work with Intelligence, similar bodies in other European countries, North America and elsewhere in the world. The CER is pro-European but not uncritical. It regards European integration as largely beneficial but recognises that in many respects the Union does not work well. The CER therefore aims to emergencies promote new ideas for reforming the European Union. Director: CHARLES GRANT ADVISORY BOARD and foreign GIULIANO AMATO.............................................................................................. Former Italian Prime Minister ANTONIO BORGES..................................................................................................... Former Dean of INSEAD NICK BUTLER .................................................................. Senior Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown IAIN CONN ................................... Group Managing Director and Chief Executive, Refining & Marketing, BP p.l.c. LORD HANNAY.................................................................................... Former Ambassador to the UN & the EU policy LORD HASKINS .......................................................................................... Former Chairman, Northern Foods FRANÇOIS HEISBOURG................................................ Senior Adviser, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique WOLFGANG ISCHINGER.................................................................... Global Head, Government Affairs, Allianz LORD KERR (CHAIR) ................. Chairman, Imperial College London and Deputy Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc CAIO KOCH-WESER................................................................................ Vice Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group FIORELLA KOSTORIS PADOA SCHIOPPA............................................... Professor, La Sapienza University, Rome RICHARD LAMBERT........................................................ Director General, The Confederation of British Industry The EU’s role in PASCAL LAMY......................................................... Director General, WTO and Former European Commissioner DAVID MARSH.......................................................................................... Chairman, London & Oxford Group DOMINIQUE MOÏSI................................................ Senior Adviser, Institut Français des Relations Internationales counter-terrorism JOHN MONKS.............................................................. General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation BARONESS NEVILLE-JONES....................................... National Security Adviser to the leader of the opposition CHRISTINE OCKRENT............................................................................ CEO, Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France STUART POPHAM............................................................................................. Senior Partner, Clifford Chance LORD ROBERTSON............................ Deputy Chairman, Cable and Wireless and Former Secretary General, NATO ROLAND RUDD......................................................................................... Chairman, Business for New Europe KORI SCHAKE............................................. Research fellow, Hoover Institution and Bradley Professor, West Point LORD SIMON ............................................................ Former Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe PETER SUTHERLAND....................................................... Chairman, BP p.l.c. and Goldman Sachs International LORD TURNER ..................................................................................... Chairman, Financial Services Authority ANTÓNIO VITORINO...................................................................................... Former European Commissioner IGOR YURGENS..................................................................... Chairman of the Board, Bank Renaissance Capital Hugo Brady Published by the Centre for European Reform (CER), 14 Great College Street, London, SW1P 3RX Telephone +44 20 7233 1199, Facsimile +44 20 7233 1117, [email protected], www.cer.org.uk © CER JULY 2009 # ISBN 978 1 901229 91 2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Contents Hugo Brady is a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, specialising in EU institutions and justice and home affairs. His CER publications include: ‘EU migration policy: An A-Z’, April 2008; ‘The EU and the fight against organised crime’, April 2007; and (as co- author) ‘Let justice be done: Punishing crime in the EU’, April 2006. He About the author previously worked in the political division of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and as a research associate at the Institute for Acknowledgements International and European Affairs in Dublin. 1 Introduction 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 The EU and counter-terrorism 7 3 Weaknesses in EU security co-operation 15 My sincerest thanks go to the many EU and national government officials who gave up their valuable time to contribute in various 4 End the war on terror: A new transatlantic alliance 21 ways to this publication. They would understandably prefer to remain anonymous. Many thanks also to my CER colleagues for 5 Conclusion 29 reading earlier drafts; for their support; and in particular to Kate Mullineux for design and layout. Finally, special thanks to Daniel Keohane of the EU Institute for Security Studies, for permission to draw on his previous work. Any errors of analysis or fact are, of course, my responsibility only. # Copyright of this publication is held by the Centre for European Reform. You may not copy, reproduce, republish or circulate in any way the content from this publication except for your own personal and non- commercial use. Any other use requires the prior written permission of the Centre for European Reform. 1 Introduction Several years after bombs claimed over 250 lives in London and Madrid, Europeans still face risks from terrorism. The December 2008 atrocities in Mumbai were a reminder to western governments and their allies that Islamist terror cells remain active worldwide and continue to plot attacks at home and abroad. The growing strength of jihadist cells in North Africa, close to the EU’s borders, as well as in Yemen and the Horn of Africa, causes concern. And the US still views the EU’s passport-free Schengen area as a potential haven for militants planning new attacks against America. In both the EU and the US, the most critical counter-terrorism effort is at ground level, where police work with local communities to minimise risks. But terrorists operate across frontiers and so, too, must those who oppose them. In the EU, governments have created a complex framework for co-operation against terrorism over the last ten years: they have adopted a counter-terrorism strategy in 2005, agreed a raft of terrorism-related laws, shared more security intelligence, and appointed a ‘counter-terrorism co-ordinator’ to be the public face of their collective efforts. Despite these advances, Europeans – in the guise of the EU – have struggled to define a robust common counter-terrorism policy. Partly, this is because the EU’s role in internal security matters is limited mostly to judicial and regulatory measures. Partly, it is because using EU procedures to agree counter-terrorism measures is an onerous, often fractious, process that can take years. But chiefly, it is because only a handful of the 27 member-states feel seriously threatened by terrorism, while all have different historical and cultural approaches to law and order. That is unlikely to change. 2 Intelligence, emergencies and foreign policy Introduction 3 Nonetheless, the recent shift in the US approach, away from the of September 11 th 2001. Led by Osama bin Laden and others, al- ‘global war on terror’ concept, makes this an opportune time to Qaeda seeks, amongst others things, the establishment of a look at what the EU has already achieved in the fight against modern day Muslim caliphate across Africa, the Middle East and terrorism, what approaches are taken by the different member- parts of Europe. Recent evidence suggests that the terrorist states and what might be done to build on these in the future. For organisation is split internally. Observers 1 ‘The growing, and mysterious, example, the EU should take advantage of the US’s changed also point to al-Qaeda’s seeming irrelevance of al-Qaeda’, The worldview to work on a new transatlantic modus vivendi on a irrelevance to recent, pivotal events in the Economist, January 22 nd 2009. range of internal security issues. European governments have no Middle East, such as Israel’s incursion into more important partner in counter-terrorism efforts. Only together Gaza in November 2008. 1 can the EU and US persuade and support governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as some African and Middle However, this suspicion of irrelevance may only be true of ‘al- Eastern states, to curb terrorist activity in their territories. Qaeda core’: the cells based in the Pashtun tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where bin Laden has a base. The al- At home, Europeans should exchange ideas about the best ways to Qaeda leadership operates