Security must respect liberties, says EU terror tsar

The fight against terrorism has to be balanced with due respect for civil liberties, the EU’s anti-terror tsar Gijs de Vries said today.

“We live in an open society in Europe, where people enjoy many liberties. It is important to preserve those liberties, to build on them,” said De Vries, who took up the newly-created post on Monday.

“There can never be in any society a guarantee of 100% security,” the Dutchman said in Brussels.

Last week, EU leaders appointed De Vries, a former deputy interior minister in The Netherlands, as the bloc’s first anti-terror co-ordinator to bolster security cooperation.

“A lot more has to be done,” De Vries said, adding he would “assist member states in doing the things that they have said they would do, for example to deliver on commitments. That is the central challenge.”

EU leaders pledged to fast track a number of measures, including the implementation of a European Arrest Warrant, victim’s compensation rights and added security checks at borders before the end of June.

They also agree on tighter rules on freezing terrorist assets and boosting intelligence coordination.

De Vries will have to coordinate the EU’s anti-terror action plan in its implementation in the foreign, finance and interior and justice policy areas.

He is to report to EU leaders this autumn on progress made in implementing new counterterrorism measures.