EN E-005711/2021
Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Borrell on behalf of the European Commission
(14.2.2022)
See question(s) : E-005711/2021
Council decision 2010/4271 is the legal basis of the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN) within the European External Action Service.
EU INTCEN is not an Intelligence Service and in that context, it has no intelligence collection powers. Rather, EU INTCEN is a strategic intelligence fusion centre, working on the basis of finished intelligence, provided voluntarily by EU Member States’ Intelligence and Security Services. EU INTCEN fuses these inputs to provide classified assessments to EU decisionmakers, according to a strict need-to-know principle, in respect of the ‘third party rule’ and the EU Classified Information (EUCI) rules (and Member States’ rules).
The detection of terrorist attacks is the responsibility and competence of EU Member States’ respective national Intelligence and Security Services; EU INTCEN does not have a mandate in this regard.
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1 The EU INTCEN is the successor of the EU Situation Centre (EU SITCEN), which is mentioned in Article 4, paragraph 3, sub (a), third indent of Council Decision 2010/427 of 26 July 2010 (Decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service). The aforementioned reference to the EU SITCEN serves as legal basis for EU INTCEN, which has taken over the intelligence and analytical tasks of EU SITCEN.
Source : © European Union, 2022 – EP