The European Commission has now submitted its EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda. The Agenda was originally announced for late summer 2021, and the Commission has submitted it ahead of schedule.

By doing so, the European Commission is responding to the proposals submitted by the home affairs ministers of the European Union at the initiative of the German Council Presidency in their joint declaration of 13 November 2020 in response to the recent terror attacks in Europe.

Horst Seehofer, Federal Minister of the Interior, said: "It bodes well that the European Commission has taken up our joint proposals so swiftly. The EU stands united in the uncompromising and long-term fight against terrorism and extremism. The public can count on this."

The Commission and the home affairs ministers have thus sent an important signal that the EU is defending its common values and stepping up its efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism.

From the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s perspective, it is of particular importance to strengthen Europol and ensure that

• member states make consistent use of existing tools such as the Schengen Information System and the Europol databases in order to, for example,  issue alerts for foreign terrorist fighters to prevent them from entering the Schengen area unnoticed;
• the EU Commission respond to the requests of the EU home affairs ministers calling for improved data analysis and cooperation with third countries under the new Europol mandate.  The recast of the Europol Regulation needs to be swiftly negotiated and advanced now. Europol deserves to be provided with optimal resources;
• we enhance the exchange of information on Gefährder, that is, persons considered a potential terrorist or extremist threat by individual EU member states. The aim is to ensure that information about these persons is entered in the relevant EU data bases and information systems.