The “attacks” debriefing is on the Commission's agenda. New ?
(B2) The June 21 meeting of the European Commission was the scene of a fairly symbolic debriefing. According to our information, European Commissioner Julian King, who is in charge of the fight against terrorism, wanted to inform his colleagues (at the request of President JC Juncker) " last known elements on the attempted attack at Brussels Central Station. He detailed all the elements to his knowledge – notably from IntCen, the EU's intelligence analysis center – such as the reaction of the police.
The 'terrorism' debriefing, a certain novelty
In a national government, having a minister of the interior report is a notable habit. At European level, this has not been the case up to now, unless there is a major political need (for example in the aftermath of the attacks on world trade center in 2001 or Madrid in 2004) or within the framework of security or diplomatic structures (at the EEAS or within the Council of the EU). For an “ordinary” attempted attack, which resulted in neither casualties nor other consequences, this was not the case so far. Even less in a "civilian" institution like the European Commission. It is true that this attempt primarily concerns the European institutions, since it is located in Brussels, a few hundred meters from the European institutions, like the March 2016 attack on the Maelbeek metro which certainly caused awareness of the danger to many European agents and civil servants, more so than all the television reports.
Awareness of the exchange of information
On the substance, the interesting point of this speech by the Commissioner concerns the exchange of information. Contrary to what is often said, the exchange of information between the police services of the Member States has made great progress in recent times said Julian King to his colleagues. A progression due to an awareness “ a change in attitude linked to the awareness of having to face together the same terrorist threat ».
(NGV)
