Foreign fighters and returnees from a counter-terrorism perspective, in particular with regard to Syria (note by the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator)

COUNCIL OF

THE EUROPEAN UNION

Brussels, 28 May 2013

B

PU

9946/13

JAI 415

PESC 585

COSI 65

COPS 201

ENFOPOL 156

COTER 48

NOTE

from :

to :

Subject :

C

LI

LIMITE

EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator in close consultation with the services of the

Commission and the EEAS

Council

Foreign fighters and returnees from a counter-terrorism perspective, in particular

with regard to Syria

Jihadists travelling from Europe to Syria and other hotspots in great numbers are a serious problem

for European internal security. Urgent action needs to be taken. As requested by the Council in

March, this note sets out orientations which would help to address the problem and could be priorities for action 1.

The Council is invited to consider agreeing on the following orientations :

1

In March 2013, the implications of Sahel / Maghreb on EU internal security were discussed at

the Council (6752/13). The Counter-Terrorism Coordinator (CTC) was requested to take work

forward in particular on foreign fighters. A first analysis and suggestions for measures - taking into account contributions from the Commission services, EEAS, relevant agencies and

Member States - are set out in document 9036/13. The document was discussed in PSC, in the

COSI support group and in COTER.

9946/13

Conseil UE

CAB

GdK/kve

1

LIMITE EN

1. Invite the High Representative to task IntCen to provide a monthly overview of the armed

groups active in Syria (secular, Islamist, Salafist and Jihadist groups), their composition, objectives, relations with the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and

their proximity with Al Qaida.

2. Ask Europol to improve within the Counter Terrorism Analytical Work File, by the end of June

2013the knowledge of recruitment and facilitation networks, how foreign fighters' travels are

organised and financed.

3. Invite the Commission to facilitate a risk analysis exercise to identify the major security risks

for the EU from foreign fighters and possible mitigation measures to be presented to the Council

in December.

4. Invite the Commission to continue to share the expertise of the Radicalisation Awareness Network with Member States to assist them with the set up of concrete counter- and deradicalisation projects (dissemination of counter-narratives, support to family and community

members, training of frontline staff, etc.) and possibly also provide funding to some of the projects.

5. Ask Member States to reinforce by November 2013 their contributions to Check the Web hosted

by Europol, and to explore the possibility for Europol to extend its activities to the monitoring

and analysing of social media (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) with regard to foreign fighters.

6. Invite the High Representative and the Commission to provide a factsheet in all relevant languages on how the EU is supporting the population in Syria in terms of development assistance

and humanitarian aid to facilitate communication by EU institutions and Member States to their

domestic audiences.

9946/13

CAB

GdK/kve

2

LIMITE EN

7. Invite the Commission to convene by the end of June 2013 a meeting with the relevant EU and

Member States' services and NGO's to explore how to quickly launch humanitarian aid projects

in which youngsters that want to help the Syrian population can assist. Such projects would offer viable and credible alternative ways for those that want to go to Syria out of humanitarian

conviction.

8. Invite the High Representative, in close collaboration with Member States communication experts (including the network of CT communicators) to draft specific lines to take on EU policy

towards Syria to overcome as much as possible the perceived discrepancy between our support

for the Syrian opposition and our efforts to prevent individuals from going to Syria, and to underline that travelling to fight is an ineffective way of providing support to the Syrian population.

9. Invite the High Representative to appoint by the end of 2013 an Arabic speaking EU spokesperson to reach out more effectively to Arab media and audiences.

10. Invite the Netherlands to present to PSC/COSI if possible in November the result of the study it

plans to launch in cooperation with other partners to analyse the existing systems of monitoring

or alerting about suspicious travel movements and to identify possible gaps that have to be

closed.

11. Invite COTER and TWG to establish a new workstream on foreign fighters to coordinate future

activities.

12. Invite the Presidency to reach out, before the end of June, to the European Parliament to highlight the importance to establish an EU PNR system in order to allow Member States to detect

suspicious travel movements.

13. Instruct the Working Party for Schengen matters to make suggestions by November 2013 for an

increased and harmonised use of the SIS alert system.

9946/13

CAB

GdK/kve

3

LIMITE EN

14. Invite Eurojust to present a report to the Council by November on the outcome of its ongoing

work on foreign fighters, in particular the adequacy of the legal framework in the Member

States, the criminal policy response, the use of administrative sanctions and strengthening information exchange in the context of investigations and prosecutions, and present specific recommendations.

15. Invite Frontex to provide input and generic analysis to a mapping of the various routes used by

foreign fighters and to contribute to a planned handbook with ‘risk indicators’ for detecting foreign fighters.

16. Invite the High Representative to task the EEAS to carry out high level demarches to priority

third countries (Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, GCC countries, Russia, Central Asian Republics, Western Balkans) to

-

stress the importance of addressing the issue of foreign fighters by the country concerned

-

identify, with the support of the Commission and the CTC concrete and practical measures

to step up the cooperation and information exchange between the Member States and the

third countries, including among police and justice officials

-

discuss and identify potential capacity building needs

-

discuss the role that satellite TV and Internet play in the radicalisation process and how the

countries concerned can address this.

17. Invite the High representative to explore, in cooperation with the Commission, whether and if so

which capacity building assistance, workshops etc could be provided quickly, either by reorienting existing programmes or by launching new projects (this is particularly important with

regard to the Maghreb, the Western Balkans and Turkey).

18. Invite the High representative to set up, via the EU delegations, regular exchanges among liaison officers of the Member States, either country or regional based.

9946/13

CAB

GdK/kve

4

LIMITE EN

19. Invite the High representative to organise, in cooperation with the CTC and the Commission, a

series of ad hoc meetings in Brussels with government experts from the various regions (Maghreb, Western Balkans, Gulf, Russia/Central Asia, Middle East as well as with the Arab

League) to discuss the security situation, the measures taken by the various countries and concrete steps for further cooperation, including with EU agencies.

20. Invite the High representative to produce Heads of Mission reports on the situation with regard

to the relevant third country and measures which could be taken to step up cooperation, information exchange and capacity building.

21. Invite the Presidency and the Commission to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation and information exchange with the US at the upcoming JHA ministerial on 13/14 June in Dublin.

22. Invite the CTC, in close consultation with the Commission and the EEAS, to present a report on

the implementation of these measures to a joint meeting of COSI/PSC in November in preparation of a follow up discussion at the December JHA Council.

-------------------------

9946/13

CAB

GdK/kve

5

LIMITE EN

مذكرة من منسق الاتحاد الأوروبي لمكافحة الإرهاب حول المقاتلين الأجانب المتوجهين من أوروبا إلى سورية والعائدين منها والمخاطر الأمنية.