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WORLD

Europe terror measures logjammed

By Robin Oakley
CNN European Political Editor

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The EU has already agreed to European-wide arrest warrants.

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Since the July terrorist bombings in London, the British government -- in the European Union chair for six months from July until December -- has been trying to put new drive behind Europe's counterterrorism measures.

Rapidly, Europe's justice and home affairs ministers agreed to institute a Europe-wide evidence warrant, to impose identity checks on people transferring money and to speed up the interchange of information between police forces.

But agreeing on cross-Europe measures is one thing. Implementing and using them tends to be quite another, often taking years.

After the Madrid bombings in March 2004, ministers agreed to 150 new anti-terrorism measures. Few have been put into practice.

It was back in 2001, for example, that the EU agreed to Europe-wide arrest warrants to make the transfer of suspects easier. It took until April this year for the last country, Italy, to ratify the plans.

There is a European police agency, called Europol. But insiders say EU nations are not passing it enough information to make it effective.

And there is a Eurojust team of 25 national prosecutors to deal with terrorist cases. It has scarcely been used.

Experts say the EU also suffers from internal rivalries.

Hugo Brady, of the Center for European Reform, said: "There is overlap between, say, the Europol and the EU's Threat Assessment Center, as to which receives cooperation from the national security services, from the intelligence services, and this information is really gold dust."

The British are calling for Europe-wide legislation to make phone companies and Internet providers maintain records for at least a year to help trace terrorist communications.

But European Parliament worries about privacy rights are slowing progress. And after a debate there Wednesday, Britain's interior minister, Home Secretary Charles Clarke, showed his impatience.

"I wish we didn't have the problem. I wish we didn't have suicide bombers at all. I wish I could go like that and they're gone," Clarke said, snapping his fingers.

"But I can't. They're here. And in this circumstance it is right that our police and security services give proper thought to how we deal with a threat that comes from that area."

Now, Clarke has called the EU's justice ministers to a two-day discussion starting Thursday.

The hope is that they will settle a basic strategy, doing less but doing it better, thinning down that list of 150 measures. But experts say the best hope lies in ground-level practicality.

"That means closer cooperation between police forces, more instinctive trust between police forces, more instinctive trust between the security services. But that is something that can only be built up with time," Brady said.

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