Today, the European Commission is presenting ProtectEU – a European Internal Security Strategy to support Member States and bolster the EU’s ability to guarantee security for its citizens. The strategy sets out an ambitious vision and workplan for the years to come, with a sharper legal toolbox, increased information sharing and deeper cooperation.
In a changed security environment and an evolving geopolitical landscape, where hybrid threats by hostile foreign states and state-sponsored actors are growing, where powerful organised crime networks are proliferating and criminals and terrorists are operating increasingly online, Europe needs to review its approach to internal security. Announced by President von der Leyen in the political guidelines, the Strategy will upgrade the Union’s response to new and traditional threats to internal security.
The Strategy aims to foster a change of culture on internal security, with a whole of society approach involving citizens, businesses, researchers and civil society. Security aspects will be mainstreamed in the development of new initiatives, and a new European internal security governance framework will support the implementation of the Strategy.
As Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission said:
“Safety is one of the key prerequisites for open, vibrant societies and a flourishing economy. That’s why we are launching today an important initiative to better tackle security threats like terrorism, organised crime, surging cybercrime and attacks against our critical infrastructure. We will strengthen Europol and give law enforcement up-to-date tools to fight crime. But also researchers, businesses and even citizens can contribute to greater safety for all.”
The European Internal Security Strategy complements the Preparedness Union Strategy and the European Defence White Paper. Together with the forthcoming European Democracy Shield, they form a comprehensive framework for a safe, secure and resilient EU.
Key objectives and actions
A new European internal security governance
The new threat landscape requires a change in mindset and an upgraded EU approach to internal security:
- Identifying security and preparedness implications of Commission initiatives from the start and throughout the negotiation process,
- Regular threat analyses related to internal security to support the work of the Security College and exchanges in the Council,
- Regular reporting to the European Parliament and the Council to track and support the implementation of key initiatives.
Anticipating security threats through new ways of sharing intelligence
As security starts with effective anticipation, the EU must rely on high-quality situational awareness and threat analysis:
- Develop regular overviews of the EU internal security threat landscape, building on various risk and threat assessments done notably by EU agencies,
- Enhance intelligence-sharing by Member States with the EU’s Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC),
- Ensure better information sharing by Member States with EU agencies and bodies.
More effective tools for law enforcement and stronger JHA agencies
Law enforcement needs the right tools to be effective. And with 85% of criminal investigations relying on digital information, this includes lawful access to data:
- A new mandate for Europol to turn it into a truly operational police agency to reinforce support to Member States,
- Strengthening Frontex, Eurojust and ENISA and ensuring close cooperation between agencies,
- Enhancing operational capabilities with a new Critical Communication system to allow for cross border communication between different authorities,
- A Roadmap on lawful and effective access to data for law enforcement,
- A Technology Roadmap on encryption, and an impact assessment with a view to updating the EU’s data retention rules.
Building resilience against hybrid threats
The EU must enhance its resilience against hybrid threats by protecting critical infrastructure, reinforcing cybersecurity and combatting online threats:
- Member States to fully implement the CER and NIS2 Directives,
- A new Cybersecurity Act, and new measures to secure cloud and telecom services and developing technological sovereignty,
- Measures to reduce dependencies on single foreign suppliers and de-risk our supply chains from high-risk suppliers including revision of procurement rules,
- Reinforce the security of transport hubs, with an EU Ports Strategy, and new reporting systems to strengthen aviation security, transport and supply chains,
- An Action Plan against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats.
Fighting serious and organised crime
Stronger rules are needed to fight organised crime networks. Law enforcement must be able to go after their money. Children must be better protected from organised crime:
- A new legal framework on organised crime, with stronger rules on investigations,
- A new Strategy and Action Plan on Drugs and Drugs Trafficking,
- An Action Plan on the Protection of Children against Crime,
- Strengthening the ‘Follow the Money’ approach, including by full transposition of the new rules on asset recovery and confiscation,
- New legislation against firearms trafficking; new EU Strategies on Trafficking in Human Beings and on Victims’ Rights.
Combatting terrorism and violent extremism
With the terrorist threat level in the EU remaining high, the EU needs to be well equipped to anticipate threats, prevent radicalisation, protect citizens and respond to attacks:
- A new EU Agenda on preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism,
- A new toolbox to prevent radicalization,
- Feasibility study for a new EU-wide system to track terrorist financing.
The EU as a strong global player on security
To counteract the impact of global instability, the EU needs to actively defend its security interests beyond its borders, by boosting international cooperation on security and:
- Strengthening partnerships with key regions such as Latin America and the Mediterranean region,
- Concluding international agreements by Europol and Eurojust including to establish joint operational teams with local law enforcement authorities,
- Strengthening information exchange with trusted third countries,
- Completing the revision of the Visa Suspension Mechanism and addressing security considerations in the upcoming Visa Strategy.
Background
The Commission, together with Europol, ensured that the Internal Security Strategy actions are backed by evidence from the EU Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (EU-SOCTA). The assessment presented on 18 March highlights priority crime areas and key threats that the EU faces for the next four years.
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Quote(s)
Safety is one of the key prerequisites for open, vibrant societies and a flourishing economy. That’s why we are launching today an important initiative to better tackle security threats like terrorism, organised crime, surging cybercrime and attacks against our critical infrastructure. We will strengthen Europol and give law enforcement up-to-date tools to fight crime. But also researchers, businesses and even citizens can contribute to greater safety for all.
Security is a pre-condition for our democracy and prosperous economies. The EU must be bold and proactive in addressing the complex security challenges we face. We will make the EU more secure by reinforcing our capabilities, leveraging technology, enhancing cybersecurity, and combatting security threats decisively. This Strategy, together with the Preparedness Union, the Defence White Paper and the forthcoming Democracy Shield, sets out the vision for a safe, secure and resilient Union.
In a rapidly evolving threat landscape, security is the task of our times. This demands a change in our mindset. The ProtectEU Strategy will help foster a new EU security culture and equip us with better means of anticipating, preventing and responding to threats to our internal security.
Source – EU Commission
Questions and answers on ProtectEU – a new European Internal Security Strategy
Strasbourg, 1 April 205
Why is a European Internal Security Strategy needed?
Faced with new and evolving security threats and an evolving geopolitical landscape, EU Member States’ ability to guarantee security for their citizens needs a unified, European approach to protecting our internal security.
The European Internal Security Strategy aims to facilitate coordinated action, deepening cooperation through information sharing and enhancing our resilience and collective ability to prevent, detect and respond effectively to security threats. It will ensure that security considerations are integrated in the development and implementation of Union policies across Member States, promoting a cohesive and comprehensive whole-of-society approach to security. It will support Member States to harness the power of technology to strengthen security, while promoting a secure digital space for all. It supports a common response by Member States to global political and economic shifts affecting the Union’s internal security.
How does it relate to the White Paper for European Defence and the Preparedness Union Strategy?
Building on the Recommendations of the Report by former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, the European Internal Security Strategy is closely linked to the Preparedness Union Strategy and the White Paper on European Defence – Readiness 2030, which together set out a vision for safe, secure and resilient EU.
The European Internal Security Strategy provides a comprehensive response to man-made threats to the EU’s internal security such as hybrid threats, organised crime, and terrorism. The Preparedness Strategy presented on 26 March focused on strengthening civilian and military crisis readiness, while the White Paper on European Defence presented on 18 March sets out a strategic vision for European defence cooperation, investments, and industrial capabilities. The Commission will also propose a European Democracy Shield to promote and strengthen democratic resilience in the EU.
How will the Commission mainstream security considerations across EU policies?
In complementarity with the Preparedness Union Strategy, preparedness and security considerations will be integrated and mainstreamed across EU legislation, policies and programmes from the start and throughout the negotiation process.
When preparing new legislation or reviewing existing legislation in relevant areas, the Commission will consistently identify potential impacts of the preferred policy option on preparedness and security. This will be supported with regular training for policy makers in the Commission.
As part of the new European internal security governance, regular threat analyses related to internal security will be prepared and support the work of the Security College as well as the exchanges with Member States in the Council.
How will Europol be strengthened?
Europol plays a crucial role in supporting Members States’ law enforcement authorities in the fight against serious and organised crime, including on the fight against migrant smuggling, and terrorism. The current security context requires Europol to be strengthened and equipped to reinforce its operational support to Member States.
In close consultation with Member States, the Commission will propose an ambitious overhaul of Europol’s mandate.
Concretely, this means strengthening Europol’s role in investigating cross-border, large-scale, and complex cases posing a serious threat to the internal security of the Union; and working more closely with other EU Agencies, notably Eurojust and the EPPO, to strengthen law enforcement and judicial cooperation.
Europol’s enhanced support should also aim at strengthening Member States’ capacities to conduct effective investigations through digital forensics, decryption, processing growing amounts of data, the operational use of emerging and innovative technologies, tackling illegal profits, an increased role in the digital environment, and more.
What is the Commission proposing on data retention and encryption?
The Commission will present a roadmap setting out the legal and practical measures it proposes to take to ensure lawful and effective access to data. In the follow-up to this Roadmap, the Commission will prioritise an assessment of the impact of data retention rules at EU level and the preparation of a Technology Roadmap on encryption, to identify and assess technological solutions that would enable law enforcement authorities to access encrypted data in a lawful manner, safeguarding cybersecurity and fundamental rights.
How will the Commission balance the need for security with the need to protect individuals’ right to privacy?
Law enforcement and the judicial authorities need to be able to investigate and take action against crime. According to Europol’s SOCTA report, today, nearly all forms of serious and organised crime have a digital footprint. Around 85% of criminal investigations now rely on law enforcement authorities’ ability to access digital information.
As digitalisation becomes more pervasive and provides an ever-growing source of new tools for criminals, a framework for access to data which responds to the needs to enforce our laws and protect our values is essential. At the same time, ensuring digital systems remain secure from unauthorised access is equally vital to preserve cybersecurity, protect against emerging security threats and ensure that fundamental rights including the right to privacy are respected.
The Commission will ensure that security considerations are integrated into EU policies while respecting fundamental rights, including the right to privacy.
How does the Strategy improve citizens’ security online, in particular children?
The Strategy puts forward a number of measures to protect citizens online. The Digital Services Act requires online platforms to take proactive measures to manage risks and remove illegal content. This protects online users, especially children, from the threats of child sexual abuse, human trafficking, and online radicalisation. The Strategy calls for a rigorous enforcement of the DSA.
The Commission will also publish comprehensive guidelines to protect minors and introduce a privacy-protective age verification solution in 2025, which will provide an essential safeguard until the EU Digital Identity Wallet becomes available in 2026.
The Commission will equally keep fostering collaboration between online platforms, stakeholders, and relevant authorities to ensure online safety through the Code of Conduct on Illegal Hate Speech and the EU Internet Forum.
To combat child sexual abuse, the Commission will support the co-legislators in finalising the two legislative proposals to prevent and combat child sexual abuse online and to make law enforcement action against child sexual abuse and exploitation effective. Once the new rules are adopted, the EU Centre to prevent and combat child sexual abuse will be set up to support online service providers to prevent and if needed, detect child sexual abuse online, review reports and channel them to law enforcement. The Centre will also support Member States to prevent child sexual abuse and assist victims.
The Commission will develop an Action Plan on the Protection of Children against Crime, which will entail a strong online dimension in protecting children from abuse and recruitment by criminals. The Commission will also adopt an Action Plan against Cyberbullying.
To counter the dissemination of terrorist material online, the Commission is evaluating the Terrorist Content Online Regulation and will assess how best to strengthen this framework. To strengthen our ability to combat online fraud, the Commission will present an Action Plan on Online Fraud which will cover prevention measures, more effective law enforcement action, support and protection of victims, including by assistance in recovering their funds.
How does the strategy propose to counter terrorism?
The Strategy announces a new EU Agenda on preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism to set out future EU action to anticipate threats, to prevent radicalisation, to protect citizens and public spaces from attacks, and to effectively respond to attacks when they occur.
Concretely, the Commission will:
- Develop a comprehensive prevention toolbox to tackle root causes of radicalisation, to allow for early identification and interventions focused on vulnerable individuals, including minors;
- Enhance its capabilities to protect public spaces, through reviewing the rules on explosives precursors, strengthening the European Protective Security Advisory programme and expanding available EU funding for the protection of public spaces;
- Address the challenges posed by terrorist financing, including continued support to counter-terrorism financial investigators and exploring the creation of a new EU-wide system to track terrorist financing.
How does the Strategy propose to tackle organised crime?
The Commission is developing a comprehensive approach to tackle organised crime, from addressing the root causes of crime, such as poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion to stronger rules and tools for EU Agencies to support Member States to fight crime both online and offline.
The Commission will:
- Strengthen its legal framework to combat organised crime, and propose a revision of the legal framework on firearms trafficking and on drug precursors and present an EU Action Plan against drug trafficking;
- Enhance its capabilities to combat corruption, including the proposal of a new EU Anti-Corruption Strategy and the strengthening of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO);
- Protect victims’ rights, including the proposal of a new EU Strategy on Victims’ Rights;
- Present an Action Plan on Online Fraud and an Action Plan on the Protection of Children against Crime, to support and protect people and enhance law enforcement action.
How will the additional measures be financed?
The whole-of society approach adopted by the European Internal Security Strategy requires serious investment by all relevant actors: the EU, its Member States and the private sector. The future EU financing for internal security will be decided in the context of negotiations for the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
The Commission already allocates significant funding to security across various programmes, that can support the actions presented in the strategy. With around €9.77 billion for 2021-2027, support is scattered across the Internal Security Fund (ISF) with €1.9 billion, the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) which also supports security related capacity building and is allocated €6.2 billion. On top of that, Horizon Europe has €1.6 billion for Security research and innovation.
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Remarks to the European Parliament on the ProtectEU strategy for internal security
Strasbourg, 1 April 2025
“Check against delivery”
President Metsola,
Vice-Presidents,
Honourable Members,
Security is the task of our times.
The internal security strategy that Executive Vice-President Henna VIRKUNNEN and I are presenting to you today is our blueprint for protecting Europeans in a more dangerous world.
The goal of ProtectEU is not only to develop a new joined-up approach to internal security, but also to create a new security mindset.
We live in a new era of security threats. Our enemies are not met on an open battlefield, but hide in the shadows of our financial systems and in the dark corners of the web. So our policy response must be able to match this.
We need to start thinking about security in everything we do.
Concretely, this means a security check on all our initiatives – asking the question: how can this proposal enhance the safety of our citizens?
We need to act together, as a society, at all levels. Providing security is the job of the government, but everyone has a part to play: private sector, communities and citizens, all need to be made aware of their role.
And to be clear, staying prepared and ready for whatever the future holds, is the best way for us to keep enjoying our lives and the opportunities ahead.
Honourable Members,
Europol just published their assessment on Serious and Organised Crime (SOCTA) a few weeks ago. It makes for eye-opening reading.
Criminal networks are becoming more sophisticated than ever before.
Many operate inside the EU, but are run remotely from third countries.
They recruit children, who are under the age of criminal responsibility and often unable to understand the seriousness of their involvement, to act as helpers, dealers and even assassins.
Too many people in vulnerable positions are abused by networks of human traffickers.
But I am confident that Europe has the right answers.
Under ProtectEU, we will take the fight to the criminals, on every front.
We will come forward with a massive upgrade to Europol. We will strengthen its mandate, with the necessary oversight, and provide the Member States with the level of support they need – and exactly where they need it.
And we will ‘follow the money’.
For example, by pushing forward the implementation of the new money laundering rules.
We will also give law enforcement stronger tools for investigations, like undercover operations and crown witness programmes;
And, perhaps even more importantly, we will tackle the issue of better access to data, to give police the tools they need to prevent and to prosecute. ProtectEU will take a determined but careful approach.
Organised criminals are more international than ever before. So we must also be international, by ramping up our engagement with third countries, through new security partnerships with our partners.
Even going beyond partnerships, we want to pursue a new kind of ‘security diplomacy’, meaning that the EU’s security concerns will be on the table in all our dealings with third countries – whether that has to do with trade, visa facilitation or development.
The threat of terrorism is also on the rise. As instability continues in the Middle East and elsewhere, we need new tools to stop radicalised individuals from slipping through our borders, and to stop hateful content from radicalising our youths here at home.
Under ProtectEU, Frontex will have an important role to play on the external border – we will be tripling its manpower over time.
The tensions in the Middle East are also creating new divisions between our religious communities in Europe. We are seeing a shocking rise in antisemitism, and at the same time, more widespread anti-Muslim hatred.
The European Union can tolerate neither. Protecting the EU also means protecting every European’s right to practice his or her religion in peace, and to do so openly. That will remain an active part of the ProtectEU strategy. I feel personally very strongly about that.
The use of hybrid strategies puts the internal cohesion and resilience of our societies to the test. And some of the most serious hybrid threats to the security and safety of people in Europe take place online.
New technology provides new tools for influencing. We need to hold tech companies to account when it comes to online content that is hateful, criminal and that radicalises our youth.
Protecting children is the most essential duty of any society. We must win the fight against child sexual abuse, once and for all.
That takes us back to data access, to how easy it is right now for sexual predators to hide their crimes in the dark corners of cyberspace.
Honourable Members,
As you have seen, ProtectEU has a high level of ambition.
Never in the history of the EU have so many new initiatives in the area of security policy been put on the table.
I am asking for your support on all these initiatives, which I know are a shared concern for all of us.
Because although we no longer have the luxury of taking our security for granted, we do have one important advantage:
The threats we are facing also bring us closer together as Europeans. They remind us of all that unites us. They give us a sense of common purpose.
I am convinced that we will retain that sense of common purpose, we will be able to protect against these new threats, and we will emerge stronger than before.
Thank you.
Source – EU Commission
Remarks by Executive Vice-President Virkkunen and Commissioner Brunner on the European Internal Security Strategy
Strasbourg, 1 April 2025
Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
We have adopted today an ambitious new European Strategy for our Internal Security, ProtectEU. Commissioner Brunner and I will provide you with an overview of the Strategy and answer your questions in a moment.
Europe has long been a beacon of freedom, security and prosperity, grounded in the rule of law, democracy, and shared values. We remain steadfast in our commitment to upholding these core values.
In today’s rapidly evolving world, our security landscape has changed. The threats we face are larger, more global, and increasingly online.
Ranging from powerful organised crime networks and terrorism, to hybrid threats fuelled with disinformation, fear, and sabotage to our critical infrastructure. Often by hostile foreign state actors.
Our citizens expect us to act: 64 per cent are troubled about the EU’s security.
No Member State can tackle these challenges alone. We need a powerful, coordinated European response.
The Internal Security Strategy is our response. It is a key milestone in the new era of Defence and Security for the European Union.
Together with the White Paper on the Future of Defence, the Preparedness Union Strategy and the forthcoming Democracy Shield, ProtectEU sets the vision for a safe, secure and resilient EU.
Over the past decade, we have made significant progress in building a solid European internal security architecture. With many achievements. However, the scale and complexity of threats require us to go further.
This strategy lays out a clear and ambitious workplan for the coming years.
With concrete measures to enhance the EU’s resilience and the collective ability to anticipate, detect, prevent and respond to all threats. New and old, offline and online.
We will sharpen and modernise our legal toolbox, notably revising the mandates for our EU agencies, that are so crucial to support Member State authorities: Europol of course, but also Eurojust, Frontex and ENISA – the EU cybersecurity agency.
We will equip the EU with new ways of combining and sharing information and improving our anticipation and reaction capacity. With regular EU internal security threat analyses. And a new system of governance at EU level.
The EU is a place of freedom and security.
We have the strongest protections and checks and balances in the world. The Commission has always championed the rule of law, protection of fundamental rights and of privacy. This is the foundation for our democracies and we will continue defending that strongly.
At the same time, we also need to make sure Europeans are safe and that criminals are not free riding.
Today around 85% of criminal investigations rely on law enforcement authorities’ ability to access digital information.
The authorities need to be able to investigate and take action against crimes. We need therefore a framework for lawful access to data. But one which does not undermine cybersecurity. We need to ensure that digital systems remain secure from unauthorised access and that privacy is protected.
Rule of law, privacy, security. This is what we stand for and what we will defend and promote with the upcoming initiatives.
And we will build resilience against hybrid attacks. We will revise the Cybersecurity Act, help Member States implement the new rules on critical infrastructure, and strengthen transport security.
We will launch a new Nordic/Baltic regional hub for integrated surveillance of submarine cables—a direct response to growing vulnerabilities in our digital infrastructure.
Another key priority of this strategy is to reduce the EU’s reliance on third-country technologies, especially in strategic fields like AI, quantum computing, and post-quantum cryptography. This is critical for securing our digital future and technological autonomy.
And in everything we will do, from tackling terrorism and organised crimes to the new threats, fundamental rights protection will be a priority.
We encourage the co-legislators to complete essential legislative work on child sexual abuse. In parallel, we will continue to enforce the Digital Services Act – we will hold platforms accountable for their role in online security.
Finally, Europe will continue playing a strong, multilateral role globally. We are committed to strengthening partnerships with third countries, contributing to global security and ensuring our collective safety.
The success of this strategy relies on its robust implementation. It relies also on a real change of culture, on a whole of society approach, where each citizen, civil society, researchers, businesses feels concerned. As President Niinisto put it, security is a public good. We need to jointly protect it.
The Commission will take its part. We will mainstream security in all our initiatives. And we will work very closely with everyone to transform our work program in reality on the ground. For a strong and autonomous European security.
I will now give the floor to my colleague Magnus, with whom we worked very closely to put forward this ambitious strategy. Which has been a genuine ‘whole of Commission’ approach.
Commissioner Magnus Brunner:
Good afternoon everyone,
Thank you, Henna, also for the good cooperation on this file. Because what we are presenting today is very much a joint product, and a shared vision for how we can make Europe more secure for all the people who live within it.
Security is very much the task of our times.
It is the starting point from which all our freedoms derive: prosperity, democracy, and the rule of law.
A lot has been done over the last decade to start building a European security apparatus. But the nature of today’s threats requires us to go further, and I am convinced that together, we can rise to the challenge.
Let me highlight six elements.
I will start where Henna ended.
The ProtectEU strategy takes as its starting point that we need to change the way we do things on security.
The threats we are facing are constantly evolving, and it is time our response evolved too.
And we are starting with ourselves – that means shaking up the way we do things in the Commission and pooling the knowledge and focusing the energy of our services towards our common security.
First, you have seen it with the creation of the Security College.
Second, you see it in the large number of services that have contributed to this Strategy. This is a true team effort.
And third, you can see it up here on this podium. Henna is not only our Executive Vice-President, she is also in charge of DG CONNECT, and I am in charge of DG HOME. But when it comes to working on things like protecting children online, or keeping our critical infrastructure secure, we can only succeed by working very closely together.
And beyond that, from now on the Commission will factor in security considerations into all our policies. From inception to implementation.
And we will develop a new threat analysis that will allow us to calibrate and readjust our priorities in a more agile way based on a clearer picture of what is needed.
The second thing we need to do is strengthen our capabilities.
I often hear the sentence that “criminals are always one step ahead”. This is not hard for them to do, if law enforcement authorities are not equipped or have their hands tied.
The ProtectEU strategy aims to give law enforcement the tools they need to act.
Part of this is the support they get from EU Agencies like Europol, and Frontex. Next year we will present new mandates for both.
The same can also be true for data access and encryption. We need to equip our law enforcement with the tools they need to do their job, and the evidence they need to secure convictions.
And with Henna, we will work on the right and balanced solutions for that.
And we will look at presenting new EU rules on data retention – if this can be done in a way that improves Member States’ ability to act.
Third, and as Henna detailed, we will build resilience against hybrid threats by enhancing the protection of critical infrastructure, reinforcing cybersecurity, securing transport hubs and combatting online threats.
Fourth, we will get serious about tackling organised crime.
Powerful organised crime networks are spreading in Europe, nurtured online and spilling violence onto our streets. They make money by infiltrating our economies and societies, and by running vast smuggling networks.
They operate across borders and so must we.
We will update the EU criminal code on organised crime and for the first time introduce a harmonised definition – and a set of penalties for the most dangerous criminal activities.
We will share information to get a better intelligence picture of organised crime. This will be the basis for the EU’s sanction’s regime against individuals and entities involved in organised crime, including entry bans and asset freezing.
These criminals need to know that there will be nowhere to hide in Europe.
And we will take specific measures to tackle the hugely profitable drug trade that feeds these groups, including a new Drugs Strategy and an expansion of the EU’s ports alliance.
Fifth, we will introduce a comprehensive counter-terrorism agenda to prevent radicalisation, secure online and public spaces, throttle financing channels and respond to attacks when they occur.
The best way to counter terrorism is of course to stop attacks before they occur. This begins with the battle against the radicalisation of our youth. We see too often how the merchants of hate prey on children, with their twisted lies.
Henna and I are working on a dedicated strategy to protect children both from radicalisation and from falling into a life of crime.
New technology provides new tools for influencing. We need to hold tech companies to account when it comes to online content that is hateful, criminal and that radicalises our youth.
As Henna said, we are vigorously enforcing the Digital Services Act. And we need to complete our rules.
A final novelty in the strategy is that ProtectEU puts a strong accent on global action.
This is very important. The goal is to build a catalogue of security partnerships with third countries, similar to the EU-Brazil Europol cooperation agreement we recently signed.
This also led to the large cocaine bust two weeks ago in Ecuador: together with Europol and national customs and police authorities, the Ecuadorian police dismantled a criminal cell leading to 36 arrests after 73 tonnes of drugs were seized.
Going beyond that, we should engage in more ‘security diplomacy’, in other words, asserting our security interests as a part of all our dealings with third countries.
As you can see, ProtectEU has a high level of ambition.
Nothing less will do.
We need to become a less easy target for criminals. Our openness, tolerance and respect for rights must not be exploited to victimise people in the EU or elsewhere.
This strategy puts us on a good track.
Thank you.
Source – EU Commission