Spaans voorzitterschap wil meer Europese samenwerking justitie, veiligheid en criminaliteitsbestrijding (en)

The definition of the Home Affairs Security Strategy and the strengthening of the collaboration with the United States will also be key aspects of the action of the Spanish Presidency.

The Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, explained today before the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament, the initiatives that the rotating Presidency of the EU is going to promote to improve police cooperation and operating coordination capacity.

In his speech, the Minister explained that Europe is facing many global threats that can only be tackled “globally and with a joint strategy”.

The fight against terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking or trafficking in human beings are matters that require special cooperation between the security forces of the different States.

“We are going to detail the methods for cooperation, but for these to be efficient, the police forces have to trust each other”, Rubalcaba emphasised.

In order to generate this trust, the Spanish Presidency will promote the creation of joint teams, and will facilitate mechanisms for information transfer and will launch “a kind of police ‘Erasmus’”, which will enable police forces to attend training courses in other countries.

Furthermore, the Spanish Presidency proposes “following the strategies and plans to the letter” for controlling explosives, early warning systems between countries and the traceability process for explosive transactions, said Rubalcaba.

Exchanging “best practices” in the fight against radicalisation and recruitment by extremist groups; money laundering and locating assets resulting from crime are some of the other matters at the centre of home affairs activities in the next six months.

Two initiatives on the prevention of crime against women and minors, and juvenile violence should be added to the above.

All of these issues will make up the third block of objectives that the Spanish Presidency has set for this half of the year.

The other two blocks, the approval of the Home Affairs Security Strategy and the promotion of transatlantic relations, were also explained by the Mr Rubalcaba.

The Presidency wants to promote the approval of a “straightforward, brief and concise” text that describes the Home Affairs Security Strategy. The text should define the common risks and threats to members of the EU, in addition to the progress made in joint security matters in recent years, such as Europol i, Eurojust i and Frontex i.

Furthermore, the Strategy will specify that any security policy should be based on “common principles and values, especially in relation to fundamental liberties and rights”.