More EU cooperation and data exchange are key to counter-terrorism effort

Members of National Parliaments and MEPs from the EPP Group met to discuss how to tackle issues such as global terrorism and the refugee crisis. Many speakers referred to the need for more EU cooperation, for example in terms of data exchange between national intelligence services. EPP Group Vice-Chair Esther de Lange MEP said that the terrorist threat was less unpredictable than the Cold War threat of the past. Rather than keeping things secret as happened during the Cold War, EU countries need to change their mind-set so that the basic attitude is to share information and to have a common analysis. That way, Europe can hopefully act earlier to thwart potential terrorist attacks.