EU bickering clouds war on terrorism

PARIS - It was branded "Europe's September 11," a wake-up call on terrorism.

But a year after four bombs exploded on crowded commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and injuring 1900, the European response to terror threats is being criticised as either insufficient or dangerously illiberal.

At European Union level, the March 11 2004 atrocities unleashed a raft of urgent measures, but many of the EU-wide initiatives have been weakened by a tenacious defence of national sovereignty.

The then 15 EU countries - now 25 after the enlargement last May - decided to appoint an anti-terrorism co-ordinator, share intelligence, harmonise national rules on the keeping of records of phone calls and on notification of cross-border money transfers, boost co-operation between national police forces and improve co-ordination with non-EU countries.

But critics say progress has been slow or haphazard and the anti-terrorism "czar", Gijs de Vries, the Dutchman who works under EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, has been largely toothless, sidelined to the role of pressing interior ministers and justice ministers to honour their promises.

"My responsibility is to ensure that the different [EU ministerial] councils work together," de Vries said recently. "Security remains a national competence. This is a political decision made by our leaders."

A report last week by the EU Committee in Britain's House of Lords was withering about the deficiencies. It looked in particular at one of the biggest loopholes - the use of false passports by terrorists.

The report noted that Interpol's passport database contains 5.6 million items, whereas the EU's own Schengen Information System, used by the police of member states, has more than 10 million items.

"This indicates that many member states are not notifying relevant information to the Interpol database, and probably not consulting it on a regular basis," the panel said. "Every effort must be made to ensure that the Interpol database is as comprehensive as possible."

The chairman of the inquiry, Lord Wright of Richmond, said the EU structures for pooling information and intelligence "are confusing and need to be streamlined".

The main vehicle for this, the EU intelligence agency Europol, has been hampered by a squabble. Member states fought for eight months over the choice of a new director, with several countries defending national champions for the job.

Another worry is Iraq. Police and security chiefs in several countries have repeatedly warned that the conflict has become a breeding ground for potential terrorism. Young Muslims in Europe, alienated from the host community and radicalised by proselytising imams, head for Iraq to attack United States forces and their allies, returning home as battle-hardened jihadists.

Their home ground is the mosque and meeting places in the Muslim communities - arenas that are alien in culture and language to the vast majority of European police.

Washington is concerned that Europe is not doing enough, although it has recently muted its tone in line with the attempt to improve transatlantic relations at the start of President George W. Bush's second term in office.

William Pope, deputy co-ordinator of counter-terrorism at the State Department, last September said terrorists were either slipping into European countries or could not be detained because of the EU's open borders, differences in asylum laws among member states, inadequate anti-terror legislation and in some cases strict standards of evidence.

"We are concerned that some European states have at times demonstrated an inability to prosecute successful or hold many of the terrorists brought before their courts," he said.

Such opinions raise hackles among many Europeans. A year has gone by without a major terrorist attack in Europe, which means that the focus of public debate has shifted from public security to civil rights.

Attempts by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to introduce laws giving the Home Secretary the power to arbitrarily place suspects under house arrest have met with a rebellion in both houses of Parliament. Critics say that illiberal legislation is undermining the very democracy these laws are supposed to protect.

Spain is marking the anniversary of the bombings with a day of mourning, preceded by an "international summit on democracy, terrorism and security" by the so-called Club of Madrid, an independent body of about 40 former heads of state and governments from around the world.