Solana waarschuwt voor overreageren na bomaanslagen Madrid (en)

The EU's foreign policy chief has warned against an over-reaction in the European Union following the bomb attacks in Madrid on 11 March.

In an interview with Bild am Sonntag Mr Solana said "Europe does not find itself at war".

The fight against terrorism "must be carried out with various instruments".

"We need better co-operation between police, justice and intelligence services. We must expose the financial sources of international terrorism and raise the safety of our public transport".

He added that an anti-terror coordinator could provide a useful service for the EU and stressed the importance of a solidarity mechanism where member states can help each other quickly if one country is victim to a terrorist attack.

Mr Solana also spoke out against changing the European "way of living". "We are democrats who love freedom".

His comments come as Europe has seen a rush of high-level meetings since the Madrid attacks to try and co-ordinate the fight against terrorism. Several new proposals such as

rules on retaining communication data (from telephones and the internet) and a European register on convictions are being considered.

Today EU foreign ministers will gather in Brussels where security measures will top the agenda - they will further discuss proposals by EU justice ministers for an anti-terror coordinator, and how to improve cooperation and trust between member states on intelligence issues.

On top of this, EU intelligence chiefs will meet in Madrid today and senior police officers will gather in Dublin.

Proposals arising from all of these meetings will be put towards a declaration set to be approved by EU leaders at a summit at the end of this week.