IRELAND: The Irish EU presidency has called an emergency meeting of EU justice and interior ministers for next Friday to fast-track anti-terrorism measures in the aftermath of the Madrid bomb attacks.
The Taoiseach, as president of the European Council, also said yesterday he will seek a political commitment on the obligations contained in the solidarity clause which is included in the draft constitution for Europe.
Under the solidarity clause, member-states would come to the assistance of other members in response to new threats from terrorist and non-state entities, directed against civilian populations and democratic institutions in the EU.
The proposed anti-terrorism measures will be considered by the justice ministers on Friday. They will be passed to EU foreign ministers who will be meeting on Monday and will then go to EU heads of state and government, meeting as the European Council, in Brussels on Thursday and Friday of next week.
It is intended that the council would approve these measures, and would give a political commitment on the solidarity clause, thus giving a public signal that the EU is responding jointly to the terrorist threat in the wake of the Madrid bomb attacks.
Ireland has always supported the solidarity clause in the draft constitution, which has not been agreed because of a deadlock over other issues.
These include the relative voting strengths of different member-states in the European Council.
The Government does not consider that the clause is at variance with neutrality.
The clause states that the EU and its members shall act "in a spirit of solidarity if a member- state is the victim of terrorist attack or natural or man-made disaster. The clause also commits the EU to work to prevent a terrorist threat in other member-states and to assist them in the event of a terrorist attack or other disaster.
The Irish presidency will also put forward a revised version of the EU strategy to combat terrorism, first drawn up after the September 11th attacks. This was due to be considered over several months but agreement on it and its implementation are now to be rushed through before the end of next week.
The ministers will consider the appointment of a security co-ordinator to improve co-operation between EU bodies and third countries and streamline activities in the fight against terrorism. Such a post has been mooted in the past.
They will consider ways to improve intelligence co-operation amid concern among some member-states that intelligence information is not exchanged as promptly and fully as it should be.
They will examine means of improving mechanisms to freeze terrorist assets and identify the movement of terrorist finances.
Mr Ahern said yesterday he was not concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack on Ireland because Ireland had been "on the periphery" in relation to the war on Iraq and had not sent troops there.
"I don't think we were part of the consensus," he said.
"Those people who were directly involved in the military and those who sent soldiers and there is pressure in those countries.
"But for those countries who were on the periphery and were part of the UN mandate, we were not part of the group that sent soldiers.
"We will have to take all the security precautions but I don't think there is any point in talking up the danger and needlessly causing people to be alarmed."
Irishman's Diary by Kevin Myers: page 17