The Future of Security and Preparing for It:
Why the Security Union is Needed
Published in
2 min readNov 16, 2016
A think piece for the ESPAS 2016 conference by Sir Julian King (@JKingEU), European Commissioner for Security Union, European Commission
Terrorism and organised crime threatens our values and our way of life. Neither respects national borders. Indeed their business models thrive on the lack of coordination between states. The only way to defeat the terrorists and criminals is by working together effectively. In today’s world, security of one Member State is the security of all. National security remains the sole responsibility of Member States, but they cannot effectively address alone threats which are transnational.
So what can we do at EU level to support Member States in fighting terrorism and enhancing security?
- we need to squeeze the space that terrorists, cyber and serious criminals operate in — with relevant EU wide legislation where useful, setting standards by focussing on implementation: doing what we have agreed to do, helping Member states with delivery on the ground, as well as being ready to enforce the rules. And ensuring that the relevant agencies — Europol and Eurojust for example — work together and with Member States.
- we need to tackle the root causes of terrorism including radicalisation — through prevention and de-radicalisation work. This work is best done at the local level — led by grassroots and civil society — but the EU can help with funding and by facilitating networks allowing for best practice to be shared. Radicalisation also happens in the internet. We can work at EU level to ensure illegal content promoting Daesh for example is taken down by internet companies.
- finally, we need to build our resilience — critical infrastructure of course — IT, airports, ports and so on, ‘soft targets’ — such as public spaces but also society’s resilience at large.
