May 14th, 2012
With Isabel Allende, Senator from Chile left and Patxi López, Basque President to the right
Today I am participating in the opening of a five-day conference in Bilbao on the themes of remembrance and creating a harmonious society. After fifty years of terror with more than 800 dead and thousands injured, ETA is greatly weakened and the group has announced that they will lay down their arms. It is important to honour all the victims but also to discuss how Basque society is going to move forward and how its people can live together in harmony.
The years of terror have created deep divisions in Basque society but most people are ready to look ahead and plan for a future without violence and terror. The seminar is held in a symbolic place – the TV building in Bilbao, a building that was partially destroyed by an ETA attack 2008. You can read my speech here, only in Spanish though.
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May 8th, 2012
Today I participated in a conference organised by the Danish EU Presidency on radicalisation and de-radicalisation of people at risk of being drawn into violent extremism. The discussions focused on methods to identify young people at risk and on exit strategies. The Danes are experienced in these matters and we got to listen to stories from young people about how they escaped from their past as right-wing extremists or as members of violent Islamist movements. It was extremely moving.
Many people from the RAN network were also at the conference. There are now eight working groups within the RAN network that are in full swing and they hope to present some conclusions in the autumn in connection with a ministerial conference.
You can read my speech from today’s conference here.
Now I am off to Gothenburg where I will celebrate Europe Day tomorrow by participating in various events. There will be a breakfast with officials from the city of Gothenburg and I will meet students and participate in a public hearing.
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May 3rd, 2012
Today is International Press Freedom Day. It is an important day on which to contemplate the situation of journalists around the world. Last year, about 70 journalists were killed, 1200 imprisoned and 2000 beaten and threatened.
Today, like so many other days, my thoughts are with Dawit Isaak. He has now been imprisoned in Eritrea for almost eleven years without a trial. There is international pressure on Eritrea but there are still no visible results. It’s a great shame for Eritrea and an embarrassment that so far the EU and Sweden’s efforts to secure his release have been unsuccessful.
My colleague in the Commission, Vice-President Neelie Kroes, also writes about press freedom on her blog today.
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May 2nd, 2012
As always, it is very interesting to be in the US and to meet with people who work in academia and various think tanks. I had some very rewarding discussions at Harvard with their dedicated students and a number of researchers about integration, terrorism, trafficking, the European crisis, etc. The discussion mainly focussed on immigration and asylum, which was the theme of my lecture.
I then proceeded to Washington where I had a meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss the fight against child sex abuse images online and cooperation in matters concerning data protection.
I Tuesday afternoon at the FBI, where I received a detailed report on their work to tackle cybercrime. It was interesting to hear about their experiences, especially as we are now establishing a cyber crime centre in The Hague.
In between these meetings I also met with a number of journalists and with various US officials who work against cybercrime and identify violent individuals who are at risk of being radicalised. We talked a lot about the Breivik case and it is evident that the trial in Oslo has received a lot of attention here as well.
Tonight there will be a big reception at the Swedish ambassador’s home, and tomorrow I will speak at a major conference on cyber security. It is organized by CSIS, a think tank where I did an internship for a few summer months some 15 years ago.
The US election campaign dominates many of the conversations here, and of course it is interesting to follow the campaign up close. Today Bo, the president’s dog made his campaign debut. You can read more about it here.
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April 30th, 2012
I am on a mission to the US and today I will give a lecture at Harvard. I have been invited to their European Program, the Kokkalis Program, to talk about current European challenges.
I will address three challenges. The first is the response to the Arab Spring. Following the historic developments in the Arab world, the EU will need to bring about a serious change in its policies towards its Mediterranean neighbours. The second challenge is the need for a common European migration policy. The EU is facing a declining labour force and needs to attract the rights skills and talent. And the third challenge is the need for a common European asylum policy. The EU must ensure equal treatment of asylum seekers no matter where they apply and make sure all Member States shoulder their share of responsibility. You can read the full speech here.
Tomorrow I will travel to Washington to meet with the Attorney General, Eric Holder, and to visit the FBI to learn more about their work to combat cybercrime.
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April 26th, 2012
Press Conference after the meeting
The rain was pouring down when we, a bit delayed, arrived to Luxembourg this morning. The road construction made the traffic slow down drastically. It was the first time the Council was held in the new Council building in Luxembourg, which is much nicer than the old one. However the coffee served in the meeting room is not any better than it was in the old building.
The Danish Presidency took us efficiently through the meeting agenda and there were many interesting political discussions. We discussed important issues such as migration flows, the asylum package and cooperation with Turkey for example. We also had a very good discussion on terrorism deriving from current threat assessments and on the proposals on better registration of explosives, the PNR proposal and the preventive measures to combat terrorism i.e. anti-radicalisation. These so called lone wolfs with extremist ideologies, for example Anders Breivik or Mohamed Merah in Toulouse, are today for many member countries the biggest threat. Last year I launched the Anti Radicalisation Network in order to give a platform for experts on this subject, you can read more about the network here.
There was of course also a discussion about the French-German letter on Schengen that all member states had received ahead of the meeting. This should be seen in light of the election campaign in France but Schengen is far too important to be subject for such a debate. The Commission presented a proposal in September to strengthen Schengen, introducing better monitoring and evaluation, in order to make sure that Schengen is not taken hostage and that a reintroduction of border control is not used for domestic political reasons.
If borders are to be temporary reintroduced this must be as a last resort and if it is necessary it should a common decision, taken at the European level. Schengen is one of the most concrete achievements for the approx 400 million citizens and we have to be very careful in order not to destroy the freedom of movement.
I will stay in Luxembourg over night to meet with the Justice Ministers tomorrow morning to discuss freezing and confiscation of criminal assets.
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April 24th, 2012
Confiscated land
I’m traveling in Apulia in southern Italy, where I’m visiting various projects financed by funds confiscated from the Mafia. In between villages in the beautiful countryside between Bari and Brindisi, we saw houses and large country estates previously owned by Mafia bosses which have now been turned into agricultural cooperatives where local young people can find work growing and selling biological products. The Mafia’s criminal assets are reclaimed by the people along with the orgainsation’s territory, which is so vital to their control over local communities.
Luxury villas are made into homes for young people in need of support, night clubs turned into youth clubs and music centers for disabled children and properties into museums, etc. Much of this is driven by the Libera network and the involvement from the civil society in this area is enormous. It is a daily struggle to show that the anti-Mafia is more powerful than the Mafia itself.
There is still much work to be done and the fight against organised crime is hampered by widespread corruption, but the activity we’ve seen today is truly impressive. Many of the projects are also supported financially by the EU.
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April 23rd, 2012
The sun has been shining in Rome, showing the city from its best side. I’m here to meet with various representatives from the new Government, the Parliament and other organisations.
The Italian government, led by Mario Monti, have totally different European interests than the former Government and it has therefore become a key ally, not least when it comes to my portfolio issues. Today I mainly discussed asylum, immigration, the situation in Lampedusa, integration and Schengen. I met with Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri, Minister for Integration, Andrea Riccardi, members from both the Chamber of Deputies and from the Senate, and several journalists.
I know Giorgio Napolitano from my time as a Member of the European Parliament, having spent five years in the same committee. He is the President of Italy and an impressive man of 85 years. We had the opportunity to meet and he has an astounding knowledge of all matters within the EU. Many people would say that he has been the only stable force in Italy for the recent years and he is very popular.
Meeting with Don Luigi Ciotti, President of Libera
Another important issue for Italy is organised crime and the fight against the mafia. A month ago I presented a proposal on confiscation of criminal assets and that’s an area where the Italians have great experience. In Italy, Mafia assets are turned into social benefits, to projects for the benefit of young people, victims and more. A senior person in this area is the priest Don Luigi Ciotti, founder of Libera, a network of over 1200 different associations, groups and schools working to combat organised crime, to support victims and promoting a society based on the rule of law. They have projects all over Italy and many of them are run with the money seized form the mafia. Tomorrow I will go and visit some of these projects.
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April 20th, 2012
Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who stood as a witness in a massive fraud case against the Russian state. One month after the trial, Magnitsky was arrested by those same government officials involed in the corrupt scheme. He was detentained for 358 days without trial and died of torture on 16 November 2009.
I was one of the first to raise this case internationally, in the spring of 2010. I raised it with the Russian Minister of Interior in a meeting, and it was therefore most welcome that the Russian President Medvedev called for an investigation of his death. The investigation concluded that Magnitsky died in prison due to torture.
The Russian authorities have decided to re-open the criminal case against Magnitsky even though he is dead and not able to defend himself. I am amazed that since the investigation concluded that he died due to torture, no one has been convicted. And it gets even worse with the decision to reopen the criminal case against Magnitsky two years after his death and by summoning his mother.
It is extremely important that this unresolved case is brought to a clear conclusion and that justice is brought to Magnitsky.
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April 19th, 2012
Today the European Parliament voted for the new agreement on PNR data between the EU and the US. PNR stands for Passenger Name Record, it is the information you provide to the airline or travel agent when booking a flight. This information has been used by law enforcement authorities around the world for many years to identify serious criminals and terrorists. It was used, for example, to get hold of the terrorists behind the planning of a suicide bombing in the subway in New York in 2009, it was also used after the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai and to get hold of the plotter behind the planned attack in Times Square in 2010. This information is also an extremely important tool to identify drug smugglers.
Since 2007 there has been an agreement on how the data is shared and managed between EU countries and the US. This agreement had several flaws and we have for a number of years negotiated with the US on a new agreement to better ensure legal certainty. I presented the outcome of these negotiations last November and now the Council and the Parliament have both approved the agreement. The new agreement offers significant improvements. It restricts and clarifies the purposes for which the information may be used, i.e. serious transnational crimes and terrorism. The period during which PNR data may be stored and used will be reduced from 15 to 10 years for transnational serious crimes, for terrorism it stays at 15 years, and all data should be anonymised after 6 months. The agreement also gives the individuals the right to access their PNR data held in the U.S. and if the information is inaccurate, it shall be changed or removed, something that was not ensured before. I’m glad to have the Council and the Parliament on board with this new agreement and happy that the old agreement will now be replaced with a better one.
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