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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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communications and extended the national
state of emergency an additional three months.
Finally, on February 10, the National Assembly
approved the proposed constitutional amend-
ment.
These extreme measures, adopted amidst
the general state of shock that has shaken
France in the wake of the last attacks, affect the
privacy and the legal security of French citizens.
For this reason, they have been rejected by a
wide spectrum of political figures, including
members of the ruling Socialist Party (PS). French
Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira resigned
on January 27 in protest of the plan to revoke
the citizenship of people suspected of engaging
in illicit activities, which if applied to individuals
born in France could render them stateless.
When the constitutional amendment was put to
a vote in the National Assembly, 83 of the 384
members affiliated with the PS voted against it
and another 36 abstained, a clear demonstra-
tion of the division of opinion between French
Social Democrats regarding a measure designed
to limit individual liberties and that when all is
said and done, represents an indirect victory for
the terrorists.
The European Council responded by seeking
to establish the level of coordination between
MSs needed to meet the challenge, although,
as is often the case, the effective implementa-
tion of its decisions has been painfully slow. At
an informal meeting held in Brussels on Febru-
ary 12, EU heads of state and government ap-
proved a statement that laid out three blocks of
guidelines for actions to be taken during the
succeeding months. The first of these, under
the heading “Ensuring the security of citizens”,
included the creation of a European passenger
name registry (PNR), heightened cooperation
between the law enforcement, intelligence
agencies and judicial authorities of Member
States through EUROPOL and EUROJUST to in-
clude common data bases and border controls
within the Schengen Area, measures to prevent
money laundering, the financing of terrorism
and the illicit trafficking of firearms and the
preparation of a Directive on cyber-security. The
second section, “Preventing radicalisation and
safeguarding values” called for actions of a
more political nature such as the development
of communication strategies for promoting tol-
erance and fundamental freedoms, the launch
of initiatives focused on education and social
integration designed to address the factors con-
tributing to radicalisation and the removal of
internet content promoting terrorism. The final
section, “Cooperating with our international
partners”, stressed the need to address crises
and conflicts in the EU’s Southern Neighbour-
hood, engage countries in this zone to a greater
extent on security issues and counter-terrorism
initiatives, stimulate a dialogue with among cul-
tures and civilisations and work to coordinate
these efforts within the framework of the Unit-
ed Nations and other regional initiatives.
The European Agenda on Security 2015-
2020 presented by the Commission on April 28
laid out the main actions envisaged by Europe-
an Council on security and proposed the crea-
tion of an European Counter Terrorism Centre
intended to strengthen EUROPOL’s capacity to
respond to this issue. The Council on Justice and
Home Affairs is taking action on (although per-
haps not as quickly as it should) the implemen-
tation of the measures approved. At its Novem-
ber 21 meeting it addressed not only the
question of reinforcing controls along the exter-
nal borders of the Schengen Area and the need
to improve judicial cooperation, but also the
urgency of finalising the PNR directive. Finally,
on December 10, the European Parliament’s
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home