EU LEADERS PLEDGE ACTION ON TERRORISM, NAME NEW CT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 001338

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/ERA AND S/CT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2014
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PINR EFIN KCRM EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU LEADERS PLEDGE ACTION ON TERRORISM, NAME NEW CT
CZAR

REF: BRUSSELS 1134

Classified By: USEU Poloff Van Reidhead for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

SUMMARY AND COMMENT
--------------


1. (U) In the wake of the Madrid bombings, EU leaders on
March 25 issued a Declaration on Combating Terrorism
(available at http://ue.eu.int/). They pledged to improve
cooperation, to speed up implementation of agreed EU
measures, and announced new initiatives to counter the
terrorist threat. Among these are a political commitment by
the EU-25 to abide by a Solidarity Clause (applicable to
terrorism only) pledging mutual assistance in case of a
terrorist attack, and appointing an EU CT Coordinator -- the
Dutchman Gijs de Vries -- to monitor implementation of
guidelines and ensure more effective cooperation among EU
member states and institutions. EU leaders also released, as
an annex to the Declaration, an updated CT Action Plan which
among other things calls for the EU to "include effective
counter-terrorism clauses in all agreements with third
countries."


2. (C) Most of the elements of the Summit were political
rather than practical, and the real test for the EU will be
in their implementation. By establishing target deadlines
for implementation on the national level, as well as creating
the new position of coordinator to help knock heads in
Brussels, the EU has indicated that they will begin to take
their post-September 11 commitments more seriously. We
should welcome the conclusions, and pledge to work closely
with de Vries as he seeks to chart this new counter-terrorism
course in the Brussels bureaucracy. Post recommends an early
invitation to de Vries to meet with US counterparts to
discuss ways the US and EU can cooperate on many of the areas
mentioned in the declaration where US and EU goals coincide.
END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.

Solidarity Clause
--------------


3. (C) In an annex to the CT Declaration, EU leaders made a
mostly symbolic political commitment to act jointly against
terrorist acts, "in the spirit of the Solidarity Clause"
contained in the draft EU Constitutional Treaty. Member
states pledged mutual civil-military assistance to prevent
terrorist attacks and to respond, if asked, in the event of
an attack on another member state. Each country remains free
to choose the most appropriate means to comply with the
solidarity commitment in the event of attack or imminent
threat. (COMMENT: The "clause" applies to terrorism only,
and represents the natural desire of EU countries to come
together at times of crisis. It is not a NATO Article
Five-type clause, and the Summit declaration offered an "out"
to both NATO and neutral countries by saying that each state
would choose the most appropriate means to comply with this
commitment. A contact present in the room as notetaker tells
us that -- contrary to some press reporting -- there was
no/no discussion by leaders of what the clause would mean in
practice. END COMMENT.)

Counter-Terrorism Coordinator
--------------


4. (C) Based on the need for a comprehensive and strongly
coordinated approach in response to the terrorism threat, EU
leaders agreed to establish a new position of
Counter-Terrorism Coordinator and agreed to a suggestion by
HR Solana to appoint the Dutchman Gijs de Vries, former State
Secretary for the Interior and former Dutch representative to

SIPDIS
the Convention on the Future of Europe. De Vries, who will
take up his post as early as March 29, will work under Solana
(in the Council Secretariat),and will coordinate the work of
the Council in combating terrorism. He is mandated to
provide overview and coordination assistance to the Council,
and to ensure implementation of Council decisions. His first
report to the Council is due in June. A Council interlocutor
present for the discussion said that EU leaders acknowledged
the need to speed up national implementation of EU CT
measures. While not formally mandating him to do so, the
Summit results left open the possibility that de Vries might
be able to have a limited role assisting national efforts.
One member state source said that de Vries will play an
important role as the guardian of member state commitments,
ensuring that they are carried out, and coming up with
additional recommendations and ideas to advance CT efforts.
(COMMENT: Clearly, not all member states will tolerate
internal meddling from a Brussels coordinator. De Vries'
ability to track and/or coordinate member state efforts will
depend largely on his political sensitivities and ability to
navigate below the radar of public political scrutiny. END
COMMENT.)

Terrorism Finance
--------------


5. (SBU) The Declaration is vague on terrorism financing
(TF),repeating many of the standard EU talking points about
needing to streamline processes and enhance cooperation. The
Declaration specifically tasks the Commission to "consider
improvements on regulation and transparency of legal
entities, including charities and alternative remittance
systems..." But unlike most of the other measures mandated
in the Declaration, none of the calls for action on TF are
linked to a deadline.

The US and NATO
--------------


6. (U) The Declaration has language stating the leaders'
intention to "further strengthen cooperation with the US and
other partners in countering the threat posed by terrorism."
The revised Action Plan also calls on the EU to "identify
areas for closer cooperation in consequence management with
other international organizations, including NATO."

Linking EU Relations to CT Efforts
--------------


7. (SBU) In the Declaration, the EU says it will monitor the
performance of third countries in their CT commitments, and
suggests that good relations with the EU will depend on
satisfactory progress. The revised action plan goes a bit
further in calling on the EU to "Include effective
counter-terrorism clauses in all agreements with third
countries." Interlocutors tell us that no proposals are yet
on the table for how to do this. Our prediction is that the
EU will draft a model clause -- along the lines of the
nonproliferation clause agreed last year -- for use in
"mixed" (i.e. Council and Commission) agreements with third
countries. Because member states and the Council have no
direct authority over Commission-only agreements, this Summit
tasking does not apply to agreements on only economic or
assistance issues.

Intelligence Sharing
--------------


8. (C) The leaders backed HR Solana's efforts to develop,
within the EU Council Secretariat, an intelligence capacity
"on all aspects of the terrorist threat with a view to
informing EU policy." Ahern said the leaders tasked Solana
to report to the June EU Summit on "how intelligence capacity
can be integrated within the Council structure." Though
highlighted in many press reports, this point of the
Declaration falls short of committing the leaders to
establish "an EU intelligence agency," as recently suggested
by Austria (with the backing of Belgium). Instead, the
Declaration calls upon member states "to improve mechanisms
for cooperation and the promotion of effective systematic
collaboration between police, security and intelligence
services."


9. (C) According to our interlocutors, Solana told leaders
that the EU Situation Center would begin (before the June
Summit) expanding its work on terrorism on the basis of
existing resources. SitCen director William Shapcott told us
Solana already has discussed his ideas with EU Interior
Ministers: he will ask the June Council session to agree to
beefing up the Situation Center's analytical capacity, to
include officials from internal security services in member
states (currently, only external services are active).
Shapcott emphasized the Situation Center would concentrate on
analysis, not operational details, and stressed that there
were no plans to create a "European CIA."

An EU PNR System?
--------------

10. (SBU) The Declaration contains a helpful paragraph
inviting "the Commission to bring forward a proposal no later
than June 2004 for a common EU approach to the use of
passenger data for border and aviation security and other law
enforcement purposes." Apart from its obvious benefit to
European security, this decision may assist US efforts to
focus MEPs in the Parliament on approving the recently
submitted US-EU PNR deal.

Comment
--------------


11. (C) Most of the elements of the summit were political
rather than practical, and the real test for the EU will be
in their implementation. By establishing target deadlines
for implementation on the national level, as well as creating
the new position of coordinator to help knock heads in
Brussels, the EU has indicated that they will begin to take
their post-September 11 commitments more seriously. We
should welcome the conclusions, and pledge to work closely
with de Vries as he seeks to chart this new counter-terrorism
course in the Brussels bureaucracy. On PNR, biometrics,
transport security, consequence management, terrorist
financing, and terrorism prevention, this Summit offers an
opportunity to enrich our cooperation with the EU and perhaps
make forward progress in areas where we have had difficulties
in the past. Post recommends and early invitation to de
Vries to coordinate ways the US and EU can cooperate on the
areas mentioned in the declaration where U.S. and EU goals
coincide.

SCHNABEL