Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), A terrorist attacks a Christmas market; a gang-related shooting takes place in the city center; a child abuse ring is uncovered. Whenever we see such events on the news, we all ask ourselves, “How can this happen here?” But, the truth is: it happens all too often. 75 million people in the European Union are victims of crime every year, and 30 terrorist attacks are either completed, failed, or foiled. Behind every single statistic, there is a human being. Someone whose life has been changed forever by the actions of criminal and terrorist networks.
These networks exist not despite Europe’s borders, but because of them. Our single market and freedom of movement are the very reasons they can operate and commit their crimes: whether it is terrorism, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, or cybercrime. These are European challenges and therefore they require European solutions.
To fight organized crime and terrorism, the EPP Group proposes to transform Europol into ‘Eurocops’, a fully operational police agency with cross-border enforcement powers. Only a European police force can keep track of terrorist suspects who routinely and freely cross borders. To this end, we must also ensure that fugitives do not hide behind legal technicalities and differences between Member States. Improving the exchange of operational information between law enforcement agencies and ensuring the enforcement of the European Arrest Warrant is pivotal in the fight against terrorism and cross-border crime. Major criminal networks operate in multiple sectors. Disrupting their financial gains should be a priority. Eurocops must have the necessary tools to ‘follow the money’ and quickly confiscate the profits from illegal activities. Recovering funds, as well as the preventive and value-based seizure of assets, is a clear way to deter organized criminal networks.
We need to keep up with how these networks are evolving. As our world becomes more interconnected, organized crime groups have identified new ways to make money, including through cybercrime. Their attacks on both our private digital lives and critical digital infrastructure have real consequences for citizens: Pensioners losing their life savings because of credit card fraud, hospitals unable to function because of cyber extortion, and victims of child abuse whose abuse is constantly circulated online.
To combat this form of cybercrime the EPP Group proposes an operational European Cyber Brigade. It is unacceptable that criminal networks have more advanced technology than our governments. We need Europe’s experts working together to find the perpetrators, protect the victims, and disrupt the business model of cybercrime. We must also allow companies to use the technology available to detect and remove the content that fuels the criminal market for child sexual abuse material.
The European project revolves around the fundamental values of democracy: freedom, equality, and the rule of law. Criminal and terrorist organizations are against everything we believe in. In the pursuit of their goals, they believe they have the right to disrupt our lives. If Europe is our home, we must be its guardians and protect it from the threats of these criminals. By prioritizing action at the European level and strengthening our law enforcement capabilities, we can defeat the forces that seek to instill fear in our citizens and threaten our collective security.
Opinions expressed in the op-ed section are solely those of the individual author and do not represent the official stance of our newspaper. We believe in providing a platform for a wide range of voices and perspectives, even those that may challenge or differ from our own. As always, we remain committed to providing our readers with high-quality, fair, and balanced journalism. Thank you for your continued support.Sincerely, The Brussels Morning Team
