Europe unites against terrorism

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union justice and home affairs ministers are drawing tough new anti-terrorist measures in advance of an emergency summit of leaders of the 15-nation bloc on Friday.

At their meeting on Thursday, the ministers discussed proposals for a joint anti-terrorism policy.

Key provisions include a European search and arrest warrant that will mean a suspect sought for terrorism in one EU state will be pursued by police in all 15, and streamlined extradition procedures so suspects will automatically be handed over to the country where they are wanted.

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Other measures include setting out a common definition of terrorist crimes and guidelines for sentencing convicted terrorists, including a minimum penalty of 20 years for terrorist murders.

They were also reviewing proposals approved by the executive European Commission on Wednesday that involve harmonising police and judicial action, long considered core areas of national sovereignty.

The Commission plan, which includes a proposed common definition of terrorism, aims to eliminate legal loopholes used by suspected terrorists to escape justice or string out legal procedures for years.

Besides the anti-terror proposals, ministers were to discuss increased cooperation between national anti-terror units and legislation to make acts committed outside the EU punishable inside the bloc.

EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino told the European Parliament on Wednesday the proposals would boost the EU's ability to fight international terrorism alongside its allies.

"They will allow Europe to cooperate internally more effectively against terrorism and thus also to contribute more effectively to the international struggle," he said.

Under normal circumstances, such proposals would take months or even years to grind their way through the EU decision-making process, which requires unanimity on such issues.

But after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, EU governments are anxious to act.

As the ministers gathered in Belgium, a high-level EU delegation led by Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel was in Washington to discuss closer cooperation in intelligence and police work with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top U.S. officials.

EU leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac are also consulting with Washington ahead of Friday's EU summit which will coordinate Europe's role in supporting the U.S. anti-terrorist campaign.

EU finance ministers will hold a separate meeting on Friday and Saturday to look at measures to control the flow of funds to international terror groups.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily, speaking in Brussels, told reporters: "We need to prepare for new security scenarios.

"We need to talk about whether to increase Europol's (EU joint police agency) powers.

"Europol needs more information. We need to ensure that the specialists from the different countries are brought together under Europol."

EU states, with different traditions on civil liberties and unequal experience in dealing with domestic guerrilla movements, have widely differing legislation and practices.

Currently only Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Portugal and Spain have statutes on terrorism in their criminal codes and cooperation among member states has been patchy.

France, for example, has long sheltered suspects sought by Italy for urban guerrilla attacks by the now-defunct Marxist Red Brigades movement in the 1970s.

British courts have frustrated French efforts since 1995 to obtain the extradition of suspected Algerian Islamic militant Rachid Ramda, wanted in connection with a wave of attacks in France in which eight people died and 200 were injured.