Counter-terrorism strategy
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The Government works to ensure the security of the United Kingdom via a range of international organisations but working with the European Union (EU) is a logistical and geographical priority.
While prime responsibility for protection of citizens remains with the individual Member States, we face a common threat from international terrorism which threatens our democratic values and operates across borders, and so it is necessary for EU Member States to co-ordinate their activities and share information.
The European Union's contribution
The EU’s contribution to counter-terrorism work is very wide. It includes:
- tightening legislation in those countries where it has been weak
- operational co-operation in exchanging law-enforcement information, through Europol and Eurojust, facilitating the arrest of suspects and subsequent prosecutions
- sharing intelligence and turning it into assessments that inform national and EU policy-making
- collective action against financing of terrorist groups
- helping to build the capacity of weaker nations and using the EU’s political weight to influence the policies of key countries in the fight against terrorism
- promoting the security of transport within the EU and the security of Europe’s borders through the Schengen Information System
- creating political consensus on the priority to be given to the terrorist threat (and the need to work with others, especially the US, in combating it)
- and mutual assistance in the wake of major terrorist attacks.
All of these measures are contained within the ‘Action Plan on Combating Terrorism’, which was agreed in the aftermath of the attacks in Madrid on March 11th 2004.
The UK strongly supports the full implementation of the Plan and its continued delivery was a priority during our Presidency of the Council. A new EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy was agreed in December 2005 during the UK's Presidency.
European Security Research
While prime responsibility for protection of citizens remains with indivdual member states we face a common threat from international terrorism which threatens our democratic values and operates across borders, so it is desirable for EU member states to co-ordinate activities and share information.
As part of this engagement we have lead responsibility for co ordinating the UK Government's invovlement with European secutiy research. The work is currently focused on working with the Commission and other member states to develop proposals for security research be conducted as part of the 7th European Commission Framework Programme for Research (2007-2013).
