European Commission announces new anti-terrorism measures

The European Commission has formally adopted the ‘Communication on Preparedness and the Consequence Management in the Fight against Terrorism’. The document gives an overview of the actions that the Commission is currently taking and proposes additional measures to strengthen the existing instruments on civil protection and consequence management.

In a statement the EC said: “The Commission needs to ensure that relevant information is shared instantly with all its services and national authorities concerned. Certain emergency situations may be of such gravity and the risk of their degenerating into a serious crisis so great that overall co-ordination across virtually all EU policies is necessary. Co-operation and co-ordination between all Commission relevant rapid alert systems is essential in the event of a major terrorist attack or disaster.”

The document calls for a secure general rapid alert system (ARGUS) to be created within the Commission to link all specialised systems for emergencies that require action at European level. The new system will respect the specific characteristics, competence and expertise of the individual and specialised systems managed by the Commission which will continue to carry out their current functions. Since it is often unclear in the initial phase of an incident whether it is an accident or terrorist incident, the scope of this system will not be limited strictly to terrorist attacks, but will co-ordinate all crisis centres and rapid reaction mechanisms aimed at ensuring safety and security.

The document states that a central Crisis Centre should be established in the Commission, which would bring together representatives of all relevant Commission services during an emergency. This crisis centre would co-ordinate efforts so as to evaluate the best practicable options for action and to decide on the appropriate response measures.

As well as accepting the above document The European Commission has also adopted a communication entitled ‘Critical Infrastructure Protection in the Fight against Terrorism’. This gives an overview of the actions that the Commission is currently taking on protection of critical infrastructure and proposes additional measures to strengthen existing instruments mainly by the establishment of a European programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) to provide enhanced security for critical infrastructure as an ongoing, dynamic annual system of reporting where the Commission would put forward its views on how to assure the continued functioning of Europe's critical infrastructure.

As part of this programme an EU Critical infrastructure Warning Information Network (CIWIN) would be established by the Commission to assist Member States, and owners and operators of critical infrastructure to exchange information on shared threats, vulnerabilities and appropriate measures and strategies to mitigate risk in support of critical infrastructure protection.