{"id":11438,"date":"2015-11-23T16:51:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T16:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2015\/11\/23\/eu-calls-for-europe-wide-intelligence-agency\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:42:09","slug":"eu-calls-for-europe-wide-intelligence-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/c2-comms\/2015\/11\/23\/eu-calls-for-europe-wide-intelligence-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"EU calls for Europe-wide intelligence agency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BRUSSELS \u2014\u00a0The European Commission has called for the establishment of an EU-wide intelligence agency in the wake of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. “I believe it is a moment to make one more step forward and put the basis for the creation of a European intelligence agency,”\u00a0EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Nov. 27Friday<\/span>.\u00a0 The demand came as European Union interior ministers held emergency talks in Brussels on boosting security and after French President Francois Hollande’s decision to \u00a0intensify strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.\u00a0Hollande has also presented a UN draft resolution calling for global support in the fight against the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Union\u00a0interior ministers called for stepped-up checks on EU citizens entering the 26-nation Schengen zone in a move aimed at preventing foreign fighters moving back and forth\u00a0in the wake of the Islamist militant\u00a0attacks in Paris, which left 129 people dead and hundreds injured. The move would broaden current checks, which focus on non-EU citizens, to potentially all those entering by land, air or sea into Europe’s border-free zone. It comes as evidence has emerged that the presumed ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 27-year-old Belgian who died during a police raid Wednesday, traveled to Syria and then came back undetected into the EU. The proposed tightening of checks on all travellers at the external borders of the EU follows recognition that Europe has fallen short in screening and tracking suspected\u00a0terrorists. According to a draft text of the ministers’ statement, EU ministers will “undertake to implement immediately the necessary systematic and coordinated checks at external borders, including on individuals enjoying the right of free movement.” In a separate move, France’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has called on Europe to “wake up” to the threat posed by Islamic State extremists and take steps to ensure the safety of citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Terrorists are crossing the borders of the European Union,” he said.\u00a0“It is urgent that Europe wakes up, organises itself and defends itself against the terrorist threat.”\u00a0 French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says\u00a0police have conducted 600 raids targeting Islamic extremists in the week since the Paris attacks. The Belgium government, meanwhile, has unilaterally introduced a raft of new security measures following\u00a0 the Paris attacks\u00a0and the consequent focus on Belgian inner cities as a crucible of jihadism, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n