EU plans terror threat crackdown

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Commission is to introduce proposals to combat terrorism, it has been revealed.

They will include a European Union-wide definition of acts considered to be "terrorism," common penalties and the introduction of a European search-and-arrest warrant for high-profile suspects.

The Commission, the EU's executive body, is expected to unveil the new legislative proposals in late September or October, an EC source told Reuters on Wednesday.

A report drafted by the European Parliament's Justice and Home Affairs Committee said there has been an increase in "terrorist" activity within the borders of the European Union.

"What makes modern-day terrorism particularly dangerous is that the actual or potential impact of armed attacks is increasingly devastating and lethal as a result of technological developments in the arms and explosives sector," the EU report said.

Details of the plan came on the day Spanish police arrested eight suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA and discovered a car bomb primed for use.

The Basque regional government's Interior Minister Javier Balza said: "The car was stolen two months ago...and judging by how it was primed, it was ready for use in the next few days."

It also coincided with report compiled by Queen's University, Belfast, which found that the number of "Mafia-style" paramilitary attacks on youngsters in Northern Ireland has nearly doubled since the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.

At present, most EU member states do not have specific terrorism laws and the length of prison sentences varies across the bloc.

Only six member states -- Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Britain -- have anti-terrorism laws, though the German and Italian laws do not define the term "terrorism."

The new proposals, which require the approval of all 15 member states, are based on an existing EU convention on terrorism and would replace this inter-governmental agreement with EU legislation.

A spate of high-profile attacks, especially by ETA, has galvanised EU moves for joint action to combat political violence.

"When ETA increased its attacks in Spain, (EU) justice and home affairs ministers decided that terrorism was no longer a national matter," the EC source told Reuters.

"An attack against one member state is an attack against the Union."

ETA has claimed 800 lives in its 32-year struggle for a Basque homeland straddling the French-Spanish border.

In recent months Greece has come under pressure to improve its anti-terrorism measures after the British defence attache in Athens, Stephen Saunders, was shot dead last year by the November 17 group.

The group first emerged in 1975 and is reported to have killed more than twenty Greeks and foreigners, but none of its members have ever been arrested.

Tension has also risen in Corsica which has been wracked by attacks since 1976 when the group FLNC -- Front for the National Liberation of Corsica -- began its campaign for more autonomy and aid from Paris.

The FLNC is one of several militant nationalist factions that want greater autonomy for the Mediterranean island -- which has been under French control since the 1700s -- without cutting ties with mainland France.

The FLNC has claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings.

Earlier this year, six suspected Islamic extremists, allegedly linked to dissident millionaire Osama bin Laden, were arrested in Italy and Germany.

Stefano Dambruoso, the lead magistrate behind the arrests, said those detained were not the only group operating in Europe and that the Italian cell was linked to some 40 or 50 other members in Europe.

"It certainly was not the only network in Europe," he said. "It is impossible to determine how many members these networks have."

Following the riots at the G8 summit in Genoa, German Interior Minister Otto Schily called for the creation of a new European force to tackle terrorism and riots.

In an interview with the German weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Schily warned there were some 33,000 people in Germany alone who could be considered left-wing radicals and warned that although they are loosely unified, they could organise terrorist cells.

He said while the EU's interior ministers had agreed to work together to fight the extremists, additional measures were needed.

He proposed a Europe-wide information databank on the continent's far-left and a corps of international riot police.

"I suggest setting up a corps of specially trained European riot police that can work at an international level to de-escalate problems and, where needed, effectively quell violence," Schily told the newspaper.