EU 'must do more to fight terrorism'

European Union countries are not doing enough to tackle terrorism, Ireland’s Europe minister warned today.

In a wake-up call ahead of today’s emergency EU meeting called after the Madrid bombings, Dick Roche said member states were too slow to implement measures they had already agreed.

He said: “Two-and-a-half years after the 9/11 outrage, the reality on the ground is that the European Union hasn’t really been very good at putting into effect initiatives which it has already agreed to take.”

Mr Roche said today’s meeting would focus on initiatives already agreed but not implemented, rather than on new measures to tackle terrorism.

Britain's Home Secretary David Blunkett announced an extra £15m (€22m) to be spent on elite British counter-terrorism police officers on the eve of the meeting.

Mr Blunkett, who is in Brussels for the gathering, said the cash would “significantly increase” surveillance and intelligence-gathering capabilities of Britain's Special Branch.

The announcement was made as the head of the Met said police were investigating a “definite” London link with the terrorists who killed more than 200 people in the Madrid train bombings.

Anti-terrorist officers and MI5 were trying to establish whether Islamic extremists based in the UK gave money to one of the prime suspects in the Madrid attacks.

UK Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens told the Independent newspaper: “We believe there is a London link with what happened in Madrid.”

Scotland Yard confirmed that the comments reflected the current thinking in the capital’s police force.

Sir John, Britain’s most senior police officer, warned earlier this week that a future terror strike in the UK was “inevitable”.

At the UK Justice and Home Affairs council meeting in Brussels, Mr Blunkett will suggest a new European agency should be set up to assess counter-terrorism intelligence from across the continent.

“The security service and police service are at the front line of our efforts to counter threats from terrorism at the early stages,” said Mr Blunkett.

“They do difficult and painstaking work to protect us from people engaged in long-term, sophisticated planning, using every means of science and technology to evade surveillance and detection.

“The money I am announcing today will ensure Special Branches across the UK can grow even further, boosting their ability to gather intelligence and disrupt terrorists.”

He added: “The tragic events in Madrid last week illustrate more than ever the need for us to work closely with all our partners at home and abroad to prevent extremist activity.

“It is only through strengthening our ability to gather and share intelligence that we will meet our responsibilities to protect the public from national security threats.”

The UK Home Secretary will also suggest that EU states should do more to share communications data and set “common standards” for retaining information on mobile phones to help trace terrorists.

Mobile phones are thought to have played a key role in the Madrid bombings, in which 202 people died and more than 1,400 were injured.

The series of devastating train bombs was thought to have been triggered by mobile phone signals, and the three Moroccans and two Indian nationals arrested earlier this week in connection with the bombings were said to have been traced by mobile phone records.

Mr Blunkett was also due to propose strengthening border controls in the EU.

Another suggestion put to his EU colleagues will be that countries should share more information about stolen and lost passports to make it more difficult for terrorists to travel on false identities.

“We cannot fight terrorism on our own. Our security services are already working closely with their colleagues in the security services across Europe, together with the US, at the forefront of the fight against international terrorism,” said Mr Blunkett.

“We’re already doing a great deal together, but there’s still room for improvement and we will be meeting to discuss how we can co-operate more with our European partners to share information on policing and security matters.

“We must make sure that this special council meeting makes a real, practical difference to our ability to fight terrorism.”

He went on: “It is essential we reduce the appeal of extremism – we must address why more people are drawn to terrorism and how we can improve social cohesion in our communities.”

On the retention of mobile phone and communications data, there is a wide variation between EU states.

The UK currently keeps communications data for one year, as does France.

But some member states retain the information for as little as three months.

This time span is “insufficient to allow investigations to succeed”, a UK Home Office spokesman said.

Ireland retains the data for three years and Italy for five.

The information on mobile phones includes phone numbers dialled, and the places and times at which each mobile phone was used, but not the content of calls.