Posted on 03/15/2004 8:53:01 AM PST by optimistically_conservative
Spain's new Socialist government will be quickly put to the test as Ireland makes a big push for the European Union to share more intelligence, beef up co-ordination on security issues and make fresh efforts to stem the flow of funds to banned terrorist organisations in the wake of last week's attacks in Spain that killed over 200 civilians.
Bertie Ahern, Irish prime minister and current president of the EU's rotating presidency, has written to his European counterparts requesting much closer co-operation on counter-terrorism.
Otto Schily, Germany's interior minister, yesterday called for a special meeting of EU interior ministers over how to deal with al-Qaeda, now widely believed to be behind the Madrid bombings. Michael McDougal, Irish justice minister, last night said a meeting was a possibility.
José María Aznar, Spanish prime minister who conceded defeat, had wanted the EU to adopt much tougher measures against terrorism in his own bid to weaken Eta, the Basque separatist organisation.
The Socialist party had been less tough on Eta but diplomats expected the new government to take a tough line on al-Qaeda.
The issue of counter-terrorism issues has been catapulted on to next week's summit agenda, instead of the June summit.
Diplomats said member states were in no mood to suggest that only those countries that supported the US-led war in Iraq were vulnerable. "Terrorism affects every country. Terrorist networks use countries in which to 'sleep'," said a senior EU diplomat.
Later this week, EU ambassadors will discuss plans by Javier Solana, Europe's foreign policy chief, to create a special envoy dedicated to counter-terrorism issues. The envoy would pull together measures the council - which represents the member states - and the Commission are carrying out to combat terrorism. "If we are to respond or prevent terrorist acts, we have to co-ordinate and have a more coherent overall strategy," said another diplomat.
The 15 member states had already agreed an action plan against terrorism during a summit called after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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