Alert 4 on Brussels. Crisis meetings all over Europe
(B2) Immediately after the two attacks in Brussels, the various power structures met in Brussels as elsewhere in Europe.
Alert 4 in Brussels
After a meeting of OCAM (the Coordination Body for Threat Analysis), the Belgian government decided to raise the level of the alert to level 4, the maximum level.
First decisions at Belgian level
A first meeting of the national security council – bringing together the deputy prime ministers and the ministers in charge of security issues – decided on the first measures: “ military reinforcements deployed in the main places of the capital, border control is reinforced, restrictions are applicable in public transport says Charles Michel after the meeting. They will be followed by others: schools could be closed this Wednesday (March 23).
Crisis meeting at the European Commission
A crisis meeting was held very early at the Berlaymont, headquarters of the European Commission, between President Jean-Claude Juncker and the Vice-President in charge of Administration, Kristalina Georgieva, in coordination with the internal security services of the 'institution.
Orange alert at the Commission
Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commissioner in charge of Administration, announces the raising of the internal alert at Orange (she was "White" so far). She asks her staff to stay on her premises or at home if they haven't arrived yet. All internal or external meetings are cancelled. Access to the buildings is reserved only for members of the administration (no guests or outsiders). Similar measures are taken in the European Parliament.
All EU institutions are at alert level ORANGE - all meetings on premises and outside cancelled, access only for staff with badges
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgievaEU) March 22, 2016
Meetings in all capitals
A Paris, an emergency meeting is convened at the Elysée around François Hollande with the main ministers concerned (Defence, Interior, Justice, Transport). A movement imitated in many European capitals in Warsaw, London, Madrid...
A London, a COBRA meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister David Cameron. This crisis meeting of Britain's top ministers and security officials agreed " to increase the police presence in ports and airports, in international train stations and in metro stations ».
A Madrid, in the middle of Holy Week, while the government is already on vacation, should hold a meeting tomorrow. Already this Tuesday, around 17 p.m., the Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernandez Díaz, and the Secretary of State for Security, Francisco Martínez, are to chair a meeting of the " Spain Terrorist Threat Review Group ". This group brings together the most senior counter-terrorism officials from the National Police, the Guardia Civil, the Intelligence Center for the Fight against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), the National Intelligence Center (CNI), etc.
No meeting planned yet at European level
On the side of the 28, there is, according to the information gathered by B2, for the moment no crisis meeting planned at any level at the level of ambassadors (COREPER or COPS), security specialists (COSI , internal security), or at the level of ministers or Heads of State and Government. But a meeting could be convened quickly (possibly outside Brussels).
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde with JB and LH)
Security measures at airports
Security is reinforced in Paris, at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. Likewise at Frankfurt Airport in Germany, one of the most important international airports in Europe. In the Netherlands, all airports in the country are strengthening their security measures. As for Rome airport, it is closing.
(NGV with JB and LH)
