European Parliament
Europol presents 2020 EU Terrorism Report to MEPs
The Head of the European Counter Terrorism Centre at Europol, Manuel Navarrete, presented the
2020 EU Terrorism Report (link) to the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee this week. The report sets out facts and trends relating to terrorist attacks and arrests in the EU in 2019, including that 1004 individuals were arrested on suspicion of terrorism related offences last year in 19 Member States.
European Commission
Action Plan to address racial discrimination announced
Helena Dalli, the Commissioner for Equality, has announced that she will lead on developing an EU Action Plan to address racial discrimination and Afrophobia (link).
European Commission sets out timeline for new Security Union Strategy
The European Commission has published a series of ‘roadmaps’ setting out its plans to review and update rules related to security in the EU over the coming months. Roadmaps are used by the Commission to describe a policy issue, outline possible options for EU action, and set out the Commission’s strategy going forward. Stakeholders are able to provide comments on these roadmaps to help shape the Commission’s thinking.
This month the Commission has published roadmaps relating to:
- The forthcoming Security Union Strategy (link), expected in Q3, which will propose new rules to improve cooperation and information exchange at EU level.
- The revision of the Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems (link), which relates to cybersecurity in the EU. The Commission will revise the Directive in Q4 this year.
- Protecting critical infrastructure in the EU (link) against threats from terrorism, cyber- attacks and other issues.
National updates
Croatia: Amnesty International and other organisations have criticised the EU for not commenting on accusations of police violence at the Croatian border (link).
Germany: Riots in Stuttgart saw police officers attacked (link).
Germany: The Interior Minister has decided not to file a complaint against a journalist over an article criticising the police (link)
Other news
UN to draft report on racism
The UN will prepare a report on “systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies” following an urgent debate last week (link).
Talks to resume on EU accession to ECHR
Negotiations on the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights will resume this autumn (link).
Amnesty International publishes ‘Policing the Pandemic’ report
According to a new report published by Amnesty International, the enforcement of Covid-19 lockdown measures in Europe has disproportionately impacted black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities (link).
Lookahead
– 29 June: European Parliament LIBE Committee discusses an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights