European Commission President proposals in regard of a future Security Union and an enhanced and better cooperation and coordination between Member States intelligence services could open a Pandora’s box, one that EU members constantly avoided since the beginning of the integration process. Also, this is not the first time when the EC chief attempts to put this subject on the European agenda.
“We need everything that will allow us to achieve a Security Union”, Juncker said after the Brussels attacks, adding that the Commission had come up with proposals for, among other things, the protection of external borders that he hoped EU countries would adopt soon. “It becomes more and more obvious that we must reflect over the better cooperation between our respective secret services”, he added on a press conference with French PM, Manuel Valls, after a moment of silence in memory of Brussels victims.
Before the terrorists attack in Brussels and under the framework of a security crisis that has been prolonged in Eastern Europe through Russian aggression against Ukraine or after the Charlie Hebdo, the Commission President launched the idea of building an European Union army, while Italy’s PM, Matteo Renzi, stated after January 15 Paris attacks that Rome supports the creation of an European secret service.
Although the debate still seems soft, its importance should not be neglected, especially because of the quick and rough series of terrorists attack in Europe (Paris – November 2015, Brussels – March 2016) that have engaged waves of criticism regarding the failure of cooperation between European intelligence services, but now demand new adaptations.
Contacted by CaleaEuropeana.ro, Serge Stroobants, Brussels Representative of Institute for Economics and Peace and senior security analyst stated about the European Commission President proposal: “Basically it is another balloon Juncker is letting go“.
On this topic “this is all about sovereignty. Intelligence and intelligence dominance is linked to power of your nation and thus to sovereignty“. Comparing the effects between the Paris attack in January 2015 with those after Brussels attacks, Stroobants added that “the chances of such proposals to not be fully accepted are high“.
Major Serge Stroobants, assistant professor at Vesallius College in Brussels and coordinator for World Politics at the Royal Military Academy specified also that terrorism is “a civil problem that should be tackled by police and home affairs and justice departments”.
Regarding certain difficulties that a Security Union could bring into EU-NATO relations and the possibility of a new Berlin Plus agreement, the security and defence specialist emphasized that “no new Berlin+ for now, but an enhanced cooperation like for cyber or the refugee crisis“.
“The external threats posed to Europe are hybrid in the East and South and the potential answer should have the full spectrum of capabilities: soft and hard power, kinetic or not. This can only be reached through an enhanced cooperation between the EU and NATO, that currently is not institutionalised“, said Stroobants, whom in the last few days analysed for CNN and Euronews the impact for the EU of the Brussels attacks.
“We should not focus on counter-terrorism, but the entire threats system“, he also pointed out.
The symbolic connection between 9/11 attacks and those in Europe (Paris and Brussels) should not follow the path of the same reactive posture.
“I don’t think we should get pinned down in MENA (n.r. – Middle East and North Africa) like the French are doing. We need to come up with new strategies. It is pretty clear to me these bombing campaign are more part of the problem than bringing any solution The causal and non causal relations between Terrorism and MENA should be analysed and new initiatives should be taken within our societies and abroad”, Serge Stroobants concluded.
After the terrorist attacks in Brussels, a new approach for the European Union in the security field comes again on top, especially that Member States have announced during the emergency Justice and Home Affairs Council the necessity of adopting and implementing fast the Passengers Name Record directive and the establishment of a joint contact team composed by counter-terrorism national experts within the framework of the Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre.
.
