A Call for Evidence inviting written submissions to this inquiry was published on 26 November 2010. The deadline for submissions is 22 December 2010.
In the Stockholm Programme, the EU’s 5-year programme of justice and home affairs, the Member States decided that the EU should prepare its own Internal Security Strategy (ISS). The Strategy itself was agreed in March 2010, but the Commission was instructed to prepare proposals for action. It has now done so in a Communication issued on 22 November 2010. This is the basis of the Committee’s inquiry.
The Communication describes a range of proposed actions intended to:
- disrupt international crime networks
- prevent terrorism and address radicalisation and recruitment
- raise levels of security for citizens and businesses in cyberspace
- strengthen security through border management
- increase Europe's resilience to crises and disasters.
This inquiry will concentrate on:
- EU and Member State responsibilities for internal security including the role of COSI (the Committee set up under art. 71 TFEU)
- the scope, scale, priorities and intent of the ISS
- prospects and plans for implementation of the ISS
- the relationship between the ISS and global security initiatives, especially those of the United States
- the relationship between the ISS and other EU strategies, policies and plans
- the balance between better security and greater intrusion into individual privacy.
Over the next 3 years the Commission will be following its Communication with proposals for legislation in specific areas. One of the objects of the inquiry will be to make suggestions as to how such legislation could best take forward the security of the Member States collectively, while preserving the power of individual Member States over national security.