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COUNCIL OF

THE EUROPEAN UNION

Brussels, 11 November 2008 (13.11)

(OR. fr)



15243/08





JAI 601

ENFOPOL 217



NOTE

from :	Article 36 Committee

to:	Coreper

No. prev. doc.:	15178/08 JAI 599 ENFOPOL 210

Subject :	Draft Council conclusions on the continuation of work on
combating terrorism



1.	The Article 36 Committee examined the abovementioned draft
conclusions at its meeting on 10 November 2008. The annexed text is the
outcome of the Committee's discussions and takes into account the
comments of the Austrian and UK delegations, the Commission and the
European Counter-Terrorism Coordinator.

2.	Coreper is asked to give its agreement on this text so that it can be
forwarded to the Council. 

__________________

ANNEX

DRAFT COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS ON THE CONTINUATION OF WORK ON COMBATING
TERRORISM

THE COUNCIL,

RECALLING that terrorism is a threat to all States and to all peoples,
and poses a serious threat to the security of the European Union and the
lives of its citizens;

HAVING REGARD TO the need to protect the Union and its citizens from the
high, continuous and permanent threat of terrorism;

CONSIDERING that non-conventional threats must also be taken into
account when combating terrorism;

RECALLING the requirements of solidarity, information-sharing and
pooling to achieve that purpose;

BUILDING ON the work already carried out within the Council bodies in
this area; in particular the Counter-Terrorism Strategy and Action Plan
adopted in 2005;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that all measures initiated in order to
implement the Strategy and the Action Plan must be in full respect of
basic citizens' rights;

HAVING REGARD TO the proposals put forward by the European
Counter-Terrorism Coordinator in his report to the Council / European
Council on 7 November 2008;

EMPHASISING the importance of security research with a view to the
development of new technologies and the need for close involvement of
those responsible for internal security in setting priorities for such
research;

MINDFUL OF the need to increase synergy between the various Council
bodies dealing with the terrorist threat both inside and outside the
European Union;

EMPHASISING the pragmatic and concrete approach which has been adopted
in recent work in this area;

HAVING REGARD TO the need to use effective early detection tools in
order to prevent the commission of terrorist acts;

HAVING REGARD TO the need to ensure citizens' safety by reducing the
risk of explosives being misappropriated and used for terrorist
purposes;

AWARE that, in combating terrorism, Member States must counter the
process of violent radicalisation;

CONVINCED that, in order to curb the radicalisation process, Member
States must, inter alia through the training of field staff, focus their
efforts on the following areas: the prevention of terrorism, of
incitement to terrorism, of use of the Internet for terrorist purposes -
training and recruitment – and monitoring premises likely to be used
for radicalisation;

AND

BEARING IN MIND that the European Union's Strategy and Action Plan to
counter radicalisation and recruitment constitute the basis for specific
action in that connection;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the relevant legal instruments must be
ratified, transposed into legislation and implemented as a matter of
priority,

INVITES MEMBER STATES to:

(1)	pursue ongoing work in the field of radicalisation and implement the
European Union's Action Plan to counter radicalisation and recruitment;

(2)	continue to combat the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes,
and in particular to participate in the European "Check the Web"
project, inter alia on subjects such as "Islamist propaganda from
moderate Islamist websites";

(3)	take part in the efforts being made by the European Coordinator and
the five Member States which have agreed to pilot specific
anti-radicalisation projects;

(4)	encourage the professional groups concerned to make use of the
handbook entitled "Violent radicalisation: recognition of and responses
to the phenomenon by the professional groups concerned";

(5)	consider the need for the early detection of individuals suspected
of terrorist activities and organised crime during the visa application
procedure;

(6)	continue to implement the European action plan on enhancing the
security of explosives;

(7)	speed up national procedures for ratification, transposition and
implementation of legal instruments which are considered a priority in
order to improve legislation on preventing and combating terrorism;

(8)	keep Europol and Eurojust supplied with information on
investigations and proceedings concerning terrorism in accordance with
the arrangements laid down in Decision 2005/671/JHA, inform both those
agencies of the constitution of joint terrorism investigation teams and
involve them with these in ways to be determined according to the
individual case.

INVITES THE COMMISSION to

continue to play its part in implementing the counter-terrorist
strategy, in particular by:

(1)	encouraging Member States' initiatives in all areas of combating
terrorism, in order to facilitate the exchange of best practices,
particularly with regard to radicalisation factors which lead to
terrorism;

(2)	continuing work and support for new research;

(3)	continuing work on the financing of terrorism, especially on
charitable foundations, on the basis of the strategy for combating the
financing of terrorism which was updated in July 2008;

(4)	developing its package of NRBC measures, adoption of which is
scheduled to be during 2009.

INVITES EUROPOL to:

(1)	deploy the early warning system in the event of thefts or
disappearances of explosives and detonators;

(2)	continue to implement the existing European explosives database. One
section will be dedicated to conventional explosives, while the other
will focus more specifically on chemical, biological, radiological and
nuclear (CBRN) substances;

(3)	continue and speed up the implementation of the network of civilian
mine clearance units - EEODN;

(4)	to continue the being work carried out in connection with the "Check
the Web" project. In this connection, Europol is asked to report to the
Council at the end of April 2009 on how to increase dissemination of
personal data in order to make the best use of its secure information
portal.

				

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