Opinion: Counterterrorism At A Snail's Pace

The meeting of the EU's interior and justice ministers in Riga has once again shown that when it comes to dealing with the growing Islamist terrorist threat, the EU is slow to react. Too slow, says DW's Bernd Riegert.

Any advances made in Riga were minimal. As the EU's interior and justice ministers met in Latvia this week, they once again reinforced this, emphasized that and underscored what they've been talking about for months - or even years. The recent attacks in Paris and the prevented attacks in Belgium did not add any significant momentum to the discussions.



German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere betrayed a certain frustration when he pointed out that the number of terrorist militants returning to Europe continues to climb. European counterterrorism measures have so far not had much of an effect. Why?



In October, the ministers agreed to introduce stricter controls at the EU's external borders. But the practical implantation - computer systems that, theoretically, will be able to point out suspects to border guards - has yet to be implemented. Bureaucracy and technology are slow. The Schengen border system isn't expected to be up to date for at least another few months.



Legal hurdles, privacy concerns



Legal barriers in the EU are high. Comprehensive control of the external borders - the ability to compare each traveler with lists of terrorist suspects and potential attackers - is not currently possible. Under existing European law, such controls are only allowed on certain routes, at certain border crossings or for certain groups of people.



At the moment, the only controls in place are - believe it or not - completely random. The only routine checks involve verifying the authenticity and validity of a person's travel documents. The practice of checking travelers against a terrorist watch list, standard procedure in the United States, does not exist in the EU. This vulnerability may make it possible for EU citizens to enjoy smooth, uninterrupted travel, but this convenience should perhaps be temporarily waived during these times of growing terrorist threats.



Data protection is a treasured right in the EU. The retention of communication data, to be used as a possible weapon for the prosecution, is prohibited by order of the highest courts. The analysis of collected passenger data, routine for trips between the United States and Europe, is not permitted in the EU. Try explaining that one to an American!



EU interior ministers have now decided to take a new approach with the European Parliament with regard to both the retention and evaluation of passenger data. But there has long been resistance from the Parliament over data protection concerns. These objections need to be dialed back in the face of this threat. An agreement will take months, if not take years.



Risk of militant returnees



Prosecuting militants who have returned from the Middle East to Europe, or even monitoring them, is also a difficult task in the EU. It's one that eats up considerable funds and personnel. Authorities in EU member states are only slowly starting to realize this, and it shows. There is a marked difference in how each of the 28 states deals with the challenge, depending on how each country evaluates the current threat level.



In the view of many experts, the level at which police, judicial authorities and secret service agencies cooperate at the European level must dramatically improve. Security and investigative work is considered a national matter by many EU ministers, but terrorists have long been working on a global scale and have readily made use of the opportunities presented to them by the borderless Schengen area.



The gears of government grind slowly in the EU, and have only made sporadic progress after the tragic attacks in Madrid, London, Brussels and now Paris. But with thousands of possibly radicalized terrorist fighters conceivably returning to Europe in the next few months or years, a comprehensive and rapid approach to these matters is urgently needed.