EU:THE EU's counter-terrorism tsar, Gilles de Kerchove, has warned that Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty will make Europeans less secure, writes Jamie Smyth.
He has also said the threat posed by terrorists in Europe remains high and more attention needs to focused on preventing the radicalisation of Muslims.
"It is quite clear it brings so much in terms of security, so not having Lisbon prevents us from delivering security and meeting public expectations," said Mr Kerchove, who was appointed EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator last September.
He said Lisbon was a "very, very good treaty" and many people across Europe were disappointed the Irish had rejected it. "Lisbon is key because it changes significantly the decision-making process within the EU in the field of internal security. It will improve the efficiency of the decision-making process," said Mr Kerchove.
He said the big problem under the EU was that security decisions had to be taken on the basis of unanimous voting at the Council of Ministers. Reaching consensus with the 27 states is not exactly a "piece of cake", said Mr Kerchove, who noted that most national parliaments do not pass legislation on the basis of 100 per cent support.
He said the biggest problem with the principle of unanimity was that it changed the dynamic of negotiations at the Council of Ministers. Member states often waited until the very last moment to raise their hands and object to a proposal when unanimous voting was required, whereas if qualified majority voting was the rule, then they tended to engage and negotiate from a much earlier stage.
Lisbon would also have provided more parliamentary scrutiny over security legislation passed by the council. It would have extended the right of co-decision to the European Parliament for security and justice legislation and given national parliaments a "red card" to block proposals, according to Mr Kerchove.
"One additional benefit is in the field of human rights and liberty with the charter of fundamental right and the scrutiny of the European Court of Justice."
He said losing Lisbon would dilute the ability of the EU to fight terrorism and organised crime, two issues cited by citizens as priorities for the EU. He said the threat posed by terrorism was still high and more attention needed to be focused on preventing radicalisation of Muslims. "The first victims of al-Qaeda are Muslims themselves . . . I think we need to develop a European Islam," he said, noting initiatives to train imams launched in France.
The director of Europol Max-Peter Ratzel, who also attended the conference held by the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament, told delegates Lisbon would have helped his agency to fight crime. He said it would have helped to develop a mindset for the public, crime fighters and civil servants to think about crime in a European context.