EU interior ministers plot counterterrorism strategy

The 28 interior ministers who met in the Latvian capital, Riga, on Thursday, agreed to refocus their efforts in three main areas: developing more stringent controls on people entering the border-free Schengen zone, an air passenger registry and fresh cyber-security measures.

The European Union's commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said after the talks that it was "vital that member states work further at the national level to tackle illegal content online," in order to counter the radicalization of young Muslims and prevent their recruitment by jihadists.

A joint statement released by the ministers following their talks also indicated that EU member states hoped to enlist the help of major players in the internet industry, such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, in their efforts to combat the problem.

"The internet plays a significant role in radicalization. We must strengthen our efforts to cooperate closely with the industry and to encourage them to remove terrorist and extremist content from their platforms," the statement said.

Passenger data

Avramopolous also said the ministers had agreed that an EU-wide system of collecting and sharing data on airline passengers entering and leaving the bloc should be created, despite the fact that a similar proposal was blocked by the European Parliament last year due to privacy concerns.

"We know that the parliament had issues," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere (pictured above, center) said. "I also know that a compromise must be reached, but the topic itself is pressing and we are urging for a conclusion."

Schengen changes

The ministers called for a change in the rules governing the Schengen area to allow for the border-free area to enable "systematic checks ... against databases relevant to the fight against terrorism" when people enter and exit the border-free zone. Currently such checks can only be carried out on an ad hoc basis.

Counterterrorism is also to be high on the agenda in the next summit of EU leaders, to be held on February 12.

The need to step up the battle against Islamist terrorism in the bloc was made more urgent by the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month, in which 20 people, including the gunmen, were killed. Days later, Belgian security forces launched a series of raids in several cities, which they said had foiled a planned major terror attack.

pfd/bw (AP, dpa, AFP)