The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Rosa DÍEZ GONZÁLEZ (PES, ES), and made several recommendations to the Council on a revised EU Action Plan/Roadmap to combat the terrorist threat. (Please see the document of 24/05/2005.)

It rejected, however, the proposal from the rapporteur to create a European forum to give the victims of terrorism a voice. Instead it called for a unit to be set up, operating under the EU Counter-Terrorism Co-ordinator, to assist the victims. This unit will be a reference point for European policy in this field and its purpose will be to take in, listen to, inform and assist victims and to promote implementation of the measures which are necessary if it is to operate successfully.

Parliament also rejected the rapporteur’s suggestion that thought be given to including terrorism within the International Criminal Court's remit. The resolution states nevertheless that these crimes should not be time-barred, thereby reflecting the reprobation of the international community, which considers them to be some of the most serious and inadmissible crimes against humanity.

Other recommendations include the following:

- promote the transformation of Europol into a EU body under the democratic control of the European Parliament and the Council and under the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice;

- adopt a decision, proposed by the Commission, to provide for the transfer of the European anti-terrorist coordinator to the Commission, and also for effective parliamentary control of the European coordinator's activities;

- request the Commission to identify and study best practice in the Member States and third countries in the area of anti-terrorist policies and the prevention of radicalisation, which could form the basis for the Commission's strategy.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Rosa DÍEZ GONZÁLEZ (PES, ES), and made several recommendations to the Council on a revised EU Action Plan/Roadmap to combat the terrorist threat. (Please see the document of 24/05/2005.)

It rejected, however, the proposal from the rapporteur to create a European forum to give the victims of terrorism a voice. Instead it called for a unit to be set up, operating under the EU Counter-Terrorism Co-ordinator, to assist the victims. This unit will be a reference point for European policy in this field and its purpose will be to take in, listen to, inform and assist victims and to promote implementation of the measures which are necessary if it is to operate successfully.

Parliament also rejected the rapporteur’s suggestion that thought be given to including terrorism within the International Criminal Court's remit. The resolution states nevertheless that these crimes should not be time-barred, thereby reflecting the reprobation of the international community, which considers them to be some of the most serious and inadmissible crimes against humanity.

Other recommendations include the following:

- promote the transformation of Europol into a EU body under the democratic control of the European Parliament and the Council and under the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice;

- adopt a decision, proposed by the Commission, to provide for the transfer of the European anti-terrorist coordinator to the Commission, and also for effective parliamentary control of the European coordinator's activities;

- request the Commission to identify and study best practice in the Member States and third countries in the area of anti-terrorist policies and the prevention of radicalisation, which could form the basis for the Commission's strategy.

The committee adopted the own-initiative report by Rosa DÍEZ GONZÁLEZ (PES, ES) on the revised EU anti-terrorism action plan. It formulated a number of recommendations to the Council:

- a special unit should be set up to help the victims of terrorism, under the responsibility of the European Anti-Terrorism Coordinator. This unit would organise a European Forum to give a voice to the victims of terrorism;

- a common and global definition of terrorism should be adopted and consideration should be given to listing terrorist attacks with the crimes that come within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court , so these crimes would not be time-barred and would be included among those considered " most serious and inadmissible " under Community and international law;

- the legal conditions should be established to enable a European Public Prosecutor's Office to be set up to investigate, pursue and sentence all perpetrators of serious cross-border crimes, in particular terrorism;

- an annual assessment of the anti-terrorism action plan should be carried out every year and should take account of the "effectiveness and proportionality of the measures adopted, and of any new developments";

- all the Member States should be required to sign and ratify the 12 existing international anti-terrorist conventions and adopt the eight special recommendations by the OECD to combat the financing of terrorism. Moreover, all third countries with which the EU maintains relations should be required to do the same;

- account should be taken of the diverse nature of terrorism and the fact that terrorism is "an emerging and unpredictable phenomenon with its own specific sense of time", in particular terrorism by radical groups that claim to defend Islam. The Union needs to develop a proactive - rather than just reactive - policy to combat it;

- educational programmes delivered through the media should be funded and developed with a view to condemning all forms of violence, especially terrorism, and combating environments which foster and are a breeding-ground for racial, religious or ideological hatred.

The Council heard an oral report by the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, Mr Gijs DE VRIES, on the process of peer evaluation of national arrangements in the fight against terrorism.

The Commission also presented a package of four Communications on the fight against terrorism, to enhance prevention, preparedness and response to terrorist attacks. The Communications respond to requests made by the European Council in March and June and, together with reports/input from the High Representative and the Council, aim to contribute to the preparation of the European Council meeting of 17 December 2004. Dealing respectively with terrorist financing prevention, consequence management and critical infrastructure protection, the documents put forward suggestions on how to enhance European prevention, preparedness and response to terrorist attacks.

It should be noted that in the wake of the terrorist outrage which struck Madrid and the European Union as a whole on 11 March, the European Council agreed a set of strategic objectives which, since then, have directed the Union's fight against terrorism. The prevention, preparedness and response to terrorist attacks is at the core of these strategic objectives, which specifically include: the reduction of access by terrorists to financial and other economic resources; maximising the capacity within EU bodies and Member States to detect investigate and prosecute terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks; and enhancing the capability of Member States to deal with the consequences of a terrorist attack.

At its meeting of 18 June 2004 the European Council endorsed the revised EU Plan of Action on Combating Terrorism. The effective prevention, preparedness and response of the Union to terrorist attacks are overarching objectives reflected in many of the far-reaching measures and actions identified in the Plan of Action.

The first of the four Communications is entitled Prevention, Preparedness and Response to terrorist attacks. The other three concern the fight against terrorism financing, preparedness and consequence management in the fight against terrorism and protection of critical infrastructures.