Top priority: the fight against terrorism” “

With the presentation of its programme of work to the European Parliament, the Spanish presidency of the EU has begun its own activity that will end in June. We asked Ana Maria Rodriguez , spokesperson of the ambassador Francisco Javier Conde de Saro, permanent representative of the Kingdom of Spain to the EU, to describe the main lines of the programme. The “priority of priorities”, as affirmed by José Maria Aznar, is the fight against international terrorism: through what measures? “This enormous challenge may be tackled on the basis of the plan of action adopted by the extraordinary Council of Heads of State and of Government on 21 September, which the Belgian Presidency had already begun to implement. The action of the Spanish presidency will be concentrated on four fundamental aspects: the first consists in the creation and consolidation of the necessary legislative and judicial instruments, in particular the framework Decision on the fight against terrorism, the framework Decision on the European arrest warrant, and the framework Decision on the freezing of assets, on the mutual recognition of sentences and on the development of Eurojust. In the second place there is the reinforcement of police cooperation. The third point concerns the adoption of a series of measures for tackling the real dimension of present-day terrorism, from airplane security to financial operations. The last aspect that the Spanish presidency will address concerns the Union’s foreign relations. The EU must work in close contact with the United Nations and pay particular attention to relations with third countries; the hope is to reinforce as far as possible cooperation with the USA and Russia in the fields of judicial proceedings and police”. How does the Presidency intend to develop the debate on EU institutional reforms in the course of the first months in the work of the Convention? “The Laeken Declaration launched the work of the Convention which will begin under the Spanish Presidency. The Convention, and in particular its presidium, will strive to ensure that the work is developed with the effectiveness and rigour hoped for by European society as a whole. To this end, we will pay special attention to ensuring that the work of the Convention respects the decisions taken at Laeken”. Does the Presidency share the opinion according to which the introduction of the Euro is only the first stage towards a wider political integration? “The entry into circulation of the euro represents an important step forward in the process towards greater integration: nonetheless, a great deal still remains to be done to ensure that political integration achieves levels comparable with that of the economic integration. We ought not however to underestimate all that has been done so far in foreign policy with a view to the reinforcement of the EU’s role in the world. Our effort will be that of ensuring that the ‘common voice’ be coherent, unitary and commensurate with the importance and specific weight of the Union in the economic field. To this end, our priority in the sector of security and defence is that of equipping the EU with military and civilian instruments that may permit it to act with greater effectiveness in the management of crises. The more important objectives in the pursuit of this priority are twofold: first, completing the relations of consultation and cooperation with NATO and the other international organizations; and second, developing the instruments for crisis management”. The Euro-Mediterranean policy: how does Spain intend to give new vigour to the relations between the peoples of the Mediterranean? “Spain believes that the ‘Barcelona process’ still remains perfectly valid because it offers a framework of cooperation and dialogue with our Mediterranean partners. On this basis, therefore, it should be possible to relaunch the process with new initiatives. At the political level, we will work to ensure that the fight against terrorism be integrated, as a priority, in our relations with our southern partners. At the economic and financial level, we will take various measures to reinforce our economic association and stimulate the commercial integration of our Mediterranean partners; these measures include the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean Bank for development. Lastly, at the social, cultural and human resources levels, we will propose a wide range of measures such as the integration of regional programmes in the field of justice and internal affairs, as well as a whole series of actions in terms of dialogue between civilizations; we will promote programmes to tackle the most varied issues, from education to the means of communication”.