Nieuwe EU-regelgeving tegen terrorisme in de maak (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Foreign ministers on Monday agreed to set themselves a deadline for approving EU laws agreed after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

Draft declarations to be approved by EU leaders at the end of this week, call for outstanding laws in this area, over which member states have been dragging their feet, to be implemented by the end of June.

The laws, which include the European Arrest Warrant, establishing joint investigation teams and action against money laundering are part of an overall anti-terrorism package agreed by member states in the aftermath of the New York attacks in 2001.

The Madrid terrorist attacks on 11 March, which left 201 people dead, have seen much stronger calls from several EU governments and the European Commission for quick implementation by the remaining member states.

German problems

However, Germany has requested that the June deadline be dropped, said diplomats present at Monday's EU foreign affairs ministers meeting.

Germany is having problems implementing the laws because of its federal system. The laws have to be put in place by the individual Länder making it difficult for Berlin to speak for the whole of the country.

Similarly, there are still constitutional questions that have to be solved regarding some of the laws.

Others impatient

However, other countries are impatient.

UK foreign secretary Jack Straw said on Monday: "The problem of the European Union is that we can only go at the pace of the slowest. Therefore, there is a special responsibility on the countries which have failed so far in implementing measures to get moving".

Similarly, France's Dominique de Villepin also expressed support for the June deadline.