WRITTEN QUESTION P-1333/01 by Ilka Schröder (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Integration of European intelligence structures.
Date: 2001-04-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union, common foreign and security policy, exchange of information, secret service

4.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/19

Reply

(20 November 2001)

Concerning the first and third questions, the Council has not received any proposal from the Commission.

As regards the second question, the attention of the Honourable MEP is drawn to the fact that it is not up
to the Council to comment or to evaluate, in general or on specific points, the legal system of Member
States.

(2002/C 81 E/023)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1311/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(4 May 2001)

Subject: Freedom of information in Italy and Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union reads: (cid:145)1. Everyone has the right to
freedom of expression. This right shall
include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart
information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. 2. The freedom
and pluralism of the media shall be respected.(cid:146)

Can the Council state whether Italy(cid:146)s national law No 62 of 7 March 2001: (cid:145)New rules on publishing and
on publishing products and amendments to Law No 416 of 5 August 1981(cid:146), published in Italy(cid:146)s Official
Journal No 67 of 21 March 2001, is not in open breach of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union?

Reply

(21 November 2001)

The Council would inform the Honourable Member that, apart from the cases provided for in Article 7 of
the Treaty on European Union, it is not for the Council to express an opinion on the observance of
fundamental rights in the Member States.

The Council would also draw the Honourable Member(cid:146)s attention to the fact that, pursuant to Article 51 of
the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, its provisions (cid:145)are addressed to the institutions
and bodies of the Union with due regard for the principle of subsidiarity and to the Member States only
when they are implementing Union law(cid:146).

(2002/C 81 E/024)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1333/01

by Ilka Schr(cid:246)der (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(24 April 2001)

Subject: Integration of European intelligence structures

In recent weeks, several commentators have argued that the establishment of EU military structures under
the common foreign and security policy, such as the setting up last February of the Political and Security
Committee, the EU Military Committee and the Military General Staff, will inevitably culminate in the
setting up of the EU(cid:146)s own intelligence service. Particularly during the Kosovo conflict, it is reported that
military contingents from the EU Member States involved became painfully aware of just how dependent
they were on information supplied to them by US intelligence.

Does the Council share the view that Europe(cid:146)s own intelligence capabilities are indeed lacking?

C 81 E/20

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.4.2002

intends to draw from the above the conclusion that the EU should establish its own
If the Council
intelligence structures, will this be achieved by the integration of existing national structures or by the
creation or reassignment of the Union(cid:146)s own structures?

If measures have already been taken to establish or to integrate such structures, what progress has been
made, and what are the plans for the future?

Reply

(21 November 2001)

Since the Cologne European Council in June 1999, intelligence has been mentioned recurrently as
1.
one of the strategic capabilities that needs developing (the other strategic capabilities lagging behind are
command and control as well as strategic air and naval transport). Together with efforts to improve
operational aspects such as availability, deployability, sustainability and interoperability, development of
the strategic capabilities is needed so as to ensure that the military forces covered by the (cid:145)Headline Goal(cid:146)
(i.e. the 60 000 troops available for deployment within 60 days for a mission of at least one year) are
militarily self-sustaining, an important requirement set by the Heads of State and Government.

The Military Capabilities Commitment declaration, made public after the Capabilities Commitment
2.
Conference of 20 November 2000, states that in regard to intelligence, apart from the image interpretation
capabilities of the Torrejon Satellite Centre [which will become an agency of the European Union from the
beginning of 2002], Member States:

(cid:129) offered a number of resources which can contribute to the analysis and situation monitoring capability

of the European Union;

(cid:129) nevertheless noted that serious efforts would be necessary in this area in order for the Union to have

more strategic intelligence at its disposal in the future.

At the Conference, Member States also committed themselves to (cid:145)medium and long term efforts to
improve (cid:133) their strategic capabilities still further(cid:146). Some Member States (cid:145)undertook to improve the Union(cid:146)s
guaranteed access to satellite imaging, thanks in particular to the development of new optical and radar
satellite equipment (Helios II, SAR Lupe and Cosmos Skymed).(cid:146)

3.

(i)

In terms of situation analysis, the Union has (or will have) at its disposal the following capacities:

the European Union Military Staff, whose functions are, in particular:

(cid:129) to perform early warning and situation assessment;

(cid:129) to (cid:145)monitor potential crises by relying on appropriate national and multinational

intelligence

capabilities(cid:146);

(cid:129) to (cid:145)supply the Situation Centre with military information and receive[s] its output(cid:146);

(cid:129) in crisis situations, to (cid:145)request and process specific information from the intelligence organisations

and other relevant information from all available sources(cid:146).

(ii)

the European Union Satellite Centre, a new agency of the EU that incorporates the relevant features of
the parallel WEU structure;

(iii) staff capable of explaining interpreted satellite images, within the pol-mil structure in the Council

Secretariat;

(iv) the joint EU Situation Centre, with civilian and military staff.

The points just made underline an important

fact: while it will have situation analysis and
4.
interpretation capacities, the European Union as such will not have its own intelligence service. It will have
an Intelligence Division as part of the EU Military Staff, which will rely on intelligence that the Member
States are willing to provide, as well as on information made available by the Commission, in line with
point 5 of Declaration No 6 annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam.