Europe Approaches the First Anniversary of the Madrid Train Bombings

By Victor Comras

Nearly a year has past since the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombing. Since then Europe has committed itself to strengthening cooperation and information sharing between its member states. They have also placed a high priority on improving police and judicial assistance. This is all part of the new reinforced European Action Plan on Terrorism and its new European Security Strategy (ESS). These goals were reiterated at the November 5, 2004 EU Hague summit where European leaders again pledged to counter terrorist threats by incorporating biometics into travel documents, increasing controls at Europe's external borders, developing intelligence-led policing and enhancing judicial cooperation. This new spirit of cooperation was evident most recently in the decision of a Belgian court, February 18th to turn over to Spain, a Moroccan, Youssef Belhadj, suspected of assisting those responsible for the March 11 attack. Spanish investigators believe Belhadj was the al Qaeda spokesman on a video tape claiming responsibility for the attack. But Europe still has a long way to go to give real meaning to these very general principles. This is particularly the case when it comes to information and intelligence sharing.

Javier Solana, the EU Commissioner charged with overseeing EU foreign policy has been charged with developing recommendations on how to develop an EU intelligence capacity. His recommendations are to form the basis of further discussions at the June 2005 EU summit. Austria and Belgium reportedly favor a new European CIA, while France, Germany and the United Kingdom oppose such an idea. They are wary about sharing sensitive intelligence within the broader and expanding EU community. France is pushing an alternative suggestion that would enhance ties between the various intelligence services. This could include various networks including a special network linking the intelligence services of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Another suggestion up for review is the idea of a Special European Prosecutor's Office that could handle the investigation and prosecution of terrorism and trans-border crimes. For the present the EU relies on an mechanism known as Euro-Just which periodically brings together representatives from the various national prosecutors offices to discuss common problems. One suggestion being pushed by a group of activist European non-governmental organizations is the establishment of a new Super Euro-just that would have increased transnational investigative and judicial powers. It would include investigators assigned from each member country and maintain branches in each country. However, national investigations would remain largely within the hands of national authorities.

Concerns also remain in Europe regarding the ease with which terrorists can travel across Europe � an unintended consequence of the Schengen open borders program. Schengen members have so-far resisted pressures to adopt new procedures to better protect Europe's internal borders, or to take-on new terrorist tracking responsibilities. These functions have been deferred to Europol.

Beyond Europe, it is clear that enhanced cooperation is also required between Europe and the United States. But efforts to foster closer US-EU counterterrorism and law enforcement cooperation have met with serious difficulties. There continues to be a basic lack of trust between US and EU investigative, intelligence, police, and judicial authorities. The US side has always preferred to pick and choose between various European national counterpart organizations, rather than deal more broadly with Eurojust or Europol. New thinking must be devoted to this issue.

Madrid will host a special Summit on Security, Terrorism, and Democracy March 8-11, 2005 to commemorate the March 11th attack. The Madrid Summit, a non-partisan event, will bring together over 400 government leaders, policy makers and practitioners to commemorate the victims of the Madrid bombings and to develop a common strategy to confront terrorism in all its forms through democratic means. In preparation for the Summit, some fifteen working groups -- made up of nearly 200 leading experts on terrorism and democracy -- have been debating four key facets of this challenge: 1) causes and underlying factors of terrorism, 2) confronting terrorism, 3) a democratic response to terrorism, and 4) civil society's role. Perhaps this can also provide an opportunity for like-minded countries to futher deepen cooperation and information sharing arrangements between them.

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