Raad Justitie en Binnenlandse Zaken belsuit tot waarschuwingssysteem bij het uitzetten van terrorismeverdachten (en)

In Luxembourg, the Council of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers has today decided to set up a mutual information mechanism on third-country nationals who have been expelled by a Member State in connection with terrorist activities as well as incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence.

Federal Minister of the Interior Dr. Schäuble welcomed the decision and emphasized:

"The agreed warning system gives the competent authorities of the Member States the chance to inform each other early on about security-relevant third-country nationals who have already been expelled. This is especially relevant in cases where a member state expels a person but cannot immediately remove him or her to their country of origin, i.e. owing to pending court proceedings. The exchange of information agreed today ensures that every member state who receives such information can take its own, potentially necessary security measures at an early stage.

Both the decision on expulsion and the transmission of information are based on applicable, relevant national legislation. For data transmission secure information systems are used, which have already been set up. Thus we neither create new data bases nor networks with this decision.

The German EU Council Presidency considers the establishment of the warning system as an important contribution towards strengthening European cooperation in the fight against international terrorism."

The draft resolution underlying today's decision of the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers goes back to an initiative launched by the French government last year. The German presidency has meanwhile been in a position to finalise relevant negotiations successfully. The European Union's action plans on the fight against terrorism and the radicalisation and recruitment of terrorists already provide for the creation of a relevant information mechanism.  

In addition to the warning system, the possibility has now been opened up to issue a Europe-wide alert for the purposes of refusing entry to third-country nationals based on common Schengen regulations. The new warning mechanism supplements this possibility for cases where it is not yet possible to issue relevant alerts.

The project is fully in line with activities by the German EU presidency which especially in the field of domestic policy highlights measures strengthening practical cooperation.