Debat over terreuralarm laat gemis aan gezamenlijke EU-aanpak zien (en)
EUOBSERVER / LUXEMBOURG - EU interior ministers have agreed to pre-warn each other before publishing terrorist threat warnings in future following a scattered response to the US terror alert.
Speaking to press after the ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday (7 October), the Belgian EU presidency's home affairs chief, Annemie Turtelboom, said EU capitals have agreed to pre-notify the EU's Brussels-based intelligence-sharing bureau, the Joint Situation Centre, prior to raising national threat levels.
The move is designed to ensure that "every other member state knows, rather than learns from the press or by chance," that an alert is coming, she said.
EU ministers will also hold a fresh round of yearly meetings with their American counterparts to keep each other abreast of security developments.
The decisions come after the US last week published a blanket travel alert for US citizens coming to Europe citing an al-Qaeda plot. The US news channel, FoxNews, later quoted unnamed intelligence officials as saying that the Eiffel tower in Paris and the Alexanderplatz in Berlin are potential targets.
Sweden had one day earlier issued its own warning. The UK followed after the US, naming France and Germany. Germany did not raise its level. But France later cautioned travelers on using British public transport.
"The US has a legal obligation to provide all information to its citizens. On the other hand, this communication has led to a sentiment of insecurity in Europe. We received all the information, our intelligence services analysed it, some member states increased their terror alert level, others didn't have sufficient information to do so," Ms Turtelboom said.
EU ministers also debated a proposal for a common EU alert system to replace the existing situation in which each country uses a different code based on colours or numbers. But the idea met with lukewarm support.
"We'll have to see, our responsibles in the services will have a look. But now we actually do have more or less the same level - elevated, but not the highest," French interior minister Brice Hortefeux said on the current state of vigilance inside Europe.
His German counterpart, Thomas de Maiziere, said: "The threat situation varies in different countries, that is why a common warning system would not be fair to each of them."
The EU's anti-terrorism co-ordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, noted that there are "different schools of thought" and "cultural differences" inside the bloc.
"Some say that being explicit in the media leads to self-restraint, because people are more vigilant. It may lead to a postponement of something being launched," he said. France has a special focus on the Islamic Maghreb, while Denmark is concerned about naturalised Somalis returning to their country of origin and then coming back to Denmark to mount an attack, he explained.
The US deputy secretary for homeland security, Jane Holl Lute, told ministers in Luxembourg that the new threat is "real" but declined to give further details.
Some remarks by Belgium's Ms Turtleboom sounded critical of the US approach. The Belgian minister urged countries to strike "the right balance between informing, but not alarming the public" and said the EU must protect its "credibility" particularly "when there is a communication which draws no distinction about parts of Europe."
One day before the EU meeting, the US director of national intelligence, James Clapper, at a seminar in Washington criticised the leaks to FoxNews. Recalling a conversation with President Barack Obama, he said the US leader had noted "the irony [of] people engaged in intelligence who turn around and talk about it publicly."