Preventing radicalisation and promoting integration

After a series of terrorist attacks rocked Europe in recent years, we were the first political force to understand the urgency of beefing up Europe’s security infrastructure. Terrorism is a global threat that needs to be tackled at the local, national, European, regional and global levels.

We favour strong policies to prevent radicalisation and integrate disaffected individuals to tackle the problem of ‘home-grown’ terrorists. Internet companies have a large share of responsibility in engaging in these efforts, from preventing the dissemination of terrorist propaganda to cooperation with law enforcement authorities.

To effectively fight the growing threat of ‘foreign fighters’, EU countries must harmonise their immediate responses and approach to the issue. The EPP Group has led efforts to put in place systematic checks of all persons crossing theEU’s external borders to identify foreign fighters returning to EU territory.

Concrete measures to support national efforts

While the fight against terrorism is the exclusive competence of Member States, the EU should do everything to facilitate the work of national law enforcement. To this end, we have supported updating the continent-wide legal framework on terrorism to clearly classify as crimes the planning and financing of terrorist attacks, as well as travelling abroad for terrorist purposes.

We are also adopting means to act against terrorism financing, through encouraging EU countries to share information more effectively. We have strongly supported EUROPOL, our security agency, in its efforts to become the EU hub for the exchange of intelligence and information that is key to preventing terrorist attacks.

Every year, the police reports around 30 million crimes in the EU, excluding minor offenses. This is why we continuously fight for laws focusing on the victims, to ensure their needs are met, to protect their dignity and their security.