EU working on new anti-terrorism strategy

[Haia]

(AGI) Rome, Jan 19 - Following the attack in Paris and the raid against a jihadist cell in Belgium, EU foreign ministers have rallied together to come up with a unified response to terrorists threats in Europe. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, stated upon arriving at the reunion that cooperation must be strengthened within the bloc through "an exchange of information between states and a common effort by foreign and interior ministers", on top of collaborating with nations in the Arab world. The Arab League's Secretary General, Nabil El Araby, was invited to participate in the meeting. "We will discuss how to increase the level of cooperation on anti-terrorism with partners in the region", Mogherini said, reiterating that the fight against extremism "isn't a problem between Europe - or the West - and Islam: terrorism often strikes Muslims themselves". The key measure on the drawing board of the 28 ministers involves legislation on the database for airline passenger information, the PNR (passenger name record). "We hope that, in the light of what happened in France, Belgium, and elsewhere, that the European Parliament will understand the need to unblock the PNR", said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "A delicate balance between privacy and security" must be found, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni stated, "but there's no doubt that today we must put security first, without giving up European freedoms". No measures were approved at the gathering on Monday, but it was the first chance to exchange ideas in view of the meeting among interior ministers in Riga on January 28 and among EU leaders on February 12 in Brussels. A taste, so to speak, of the potential measures that might be adopted in London on Thursday at the meeting between members of the anti-Islamic State coalition, which was jointly organised by the UK and U.S. On the investigations front, a Pakistani man who was detained in Rome's Fiumicino airport on Sunday after trying to board a plane to London with a false passport was released. The man, who filed for political asylum in December last year, will be charged with possession of false identification. Belgian authorities have instead asked for the extradition of a suspect arrested in Greece, whom they claim has direct ties with the jihadist cell taken out in Verviers.
The number of foreign fighters in European countries "wavers between three thousand and five thousand individuals", Minister Gentiloni said after the reunion in Brussels. A "very high number that must be opposed with various initiatives that the European Union has been discussing for weeks and months", he stressed.