Jaime Mayor Oreja (PPE-DE). – (ES) Mr President, the definition and specification of the rightful political role of the European Union and its institutions in the fight against terrorism is, I believe, an extremely urgent objective for this Presidency of the European Union.

What I am saying is not inspired by Europeanism, rather, it is a fundamental need for each of the nations suffering from terrorism. It is needed in order to imbue the Union with real meaning, it is something we all need, all us Europeans, and it is needed because, if the European Union is not able to play a role in the fight against terrorism, the question ‘what is the European Union for?’ will inevitably arise. If, in the face of fear, there is no union, and that is perceived as the European Union's stance, then what is the European Union for? That, of course, would not just be a disaster for the European Union, but would also be a wasted opportunity for the Member States, as they would be unable to use the value added offered by the Union to combat this phenomenon of terrorism.

The European Union must be an essential political element in the fight against terrorism, especially for the Home Affairs Ministers. I know these Ministers face many urgent issues, they require many instruments and tools, but I believe one of the main urgent issues for the upcoming European Council is that you, the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, need to be able to promote a European political project and that you need to find the European Union useful and effective in the fight against terrorism, because it is you who are going to need the Union most over the coming years.

I am talking about a European Union political project rather than about an exhaustive list of measures which, at the end of the day, we are not able to communicate. It is clear that the European Union must promote measures on biometric data, which was mentioned by Mr Clarke or, undoubtedly, the retention of data or whatever the Home Affairs Ministers require, but we must place the emphasis on the political dimension, on a European political project. We spend a lot of time in this Parliament talking about technical and legal measures, but very little time on the political effort the European Union requires in order to combat terrorism. We cannot carry on putting the cart before the horse; we must provide the European Union’s action with the essential political dimension.

So where can we find the European political project? What I mean is that, in the face of Islamist terrorism, the terrorism of those who claim to defend Islam, the terrorism of Al Qaeda, the important thing is for us to understand that this is an emerging phenomenon, about which we know almost nothing. We do not know its rhythm, its timing, or how it chooses which nations to attack. We simply do not understand it. We need a European political project based on information and on intelligence in order to understand the phenomenon and evaluate the organisation we are dealing with.

We must be able not just to take measures, but also to ensure that European citizens know and understand what we are doing. We do not devote either time or political effort to explaining what we are about and European citizens are not aware of what the European Union does. They only see national police forces. As far as they are concerned, the European Union plays no part in the fight against terrorism, they do not recognise us, they cannot visualise what we are doing. That is why it is so important to make an effort to create information fora for national police forces, led by the European institutions. We need a European information centre, in which the security forces can access databases such as EURODAC, SIS or VIS. In short, ladies and gentlemen, a political dimension is required.

It is not possible to fight against terrorism. To say we are fighting international terrorism means nothing. What we are fighting against is a particular organisation and I am therefore concerned that the leaders of the European institutions dare not call the organisation we are fighting by its name. I do not care whether we talk about Al Qaeda, about Islamist terrorism, about radical or fundamentalist groups, or about groups which claim to defend Islam, but terrorism’s main advantage is its diffuse nature. Clearly, therefore, the European Union must deal head on with a problem of this nature by adopting all the instruments of the rule of law and on the basis of our unequivocal respect for the defence of human rights. That goes without saying.