Between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 a programme (EGYV– Ending Gang and Youth Violence) to end youth and group violence was introduced in the United Kingdom. It has been operative for four years and 52 local authorities (there were 33 when the programme began) have participated and a network of 100 experts has been created with cutting edge experience of working with youth groups.

The programme focussed on seven specific areas:

• Strengthening local leadership
• Locating and identifying problems
• Collaboration with different agencies
• Assessment and remission
• Focussed and effective interventions
• Penal justice procedures
• Mobilizing communities

In November 2016 the independent report was published to assess the impact of the programme. To carry out this assessment, two surveys were done (one before and the other afterwards, in September 2015) and 20 of the responses from local areas participating in the programme were separated into two cohorts of 10, in accordance with whether they had joined the project at the beginning (in 2012) or later (in 2014). Furthermore, six local areas have been examined in detail (three from each temporary group), with 39 quality-oriented interviews of professionals from the different fields involved being carried out. It has also been taken into account that the recommendations given in a peer review of the situation have been applied.

Local areas have stated that the EGYV programme has had a “galvanising effect” on improving the participative work of the several agencies which offer support to the areas to implement strategies in response to the most pressing local issues. The peer reviews had mostly been implemented (89% of the area groups involved in the 2012 programme, and71% of the group which joined in 2014). Overall assessment has been positive, as improvements in all areas were noted. In spite of some differences between the two cohorts, the most significant effect is that areas involved since 2014 have benefited from the experience gained over the project’s two-year duration.

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The internal security of the European Union has consistently been an issue since the beginning of Jean Claude Juncker’s mandate as President of the European Commission. In his speech last September, Juncker announced that in November The European Travel and Authorisation Sytem (ETIAS) would be proposed as a future project. This involves an automated system which will enable its operators to determine who is permitted to fly to the Schengen area.

What is ETIAS? ETIAS will be an automated system created to identify the risks associated with visitors who are exempt of a visa and who travel to the Schengen area. All citizens of third countries exempt of a visa who plan to travel to the Schengen area will have to apply for authorisation before starting their journey to the EU. The information gathered with the system, completely respecting the fundamental rights and regulations applying to data protection, will allow for the verification of potential security risks to the Union as a whole and its citizens.

The final decision on whether to allow or refuse a third-country citizen entry will be assigned to national border guards, who monitor the borders in accordance with the Schengen border code, having checked that such third-country travellers are exempt of a visa. In a nutshell, ETIAS will identify those who may pose a security risk for the EU as a whole before they enter any of its borders.

At the same time, ETIAS is designed to operate in unison with existing systems, like the Entry and Departure System. It will also be able to operate with information systems to be consulted by the ETIAS, like the Visa Information System(VIS), the database of Europol, the Sytem of Information  Schengen (SIS), Eurodac and the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS).

ETIAS will provide key information necessary for the authorities of the member states to take preventive action before a potentially dangerous citizen to the security of the Union gets to the external borders of Schengen; it will improve the detection of the traffic of human beings (especially in the case of minors); it will address the problem of criminality on the borders and will facilitate the identification of people whose presence in the Schengen area could pose a threat to the Union’s security.

The member states and Europol will have access to ETIAS, under strictly defined conditions such as prevention, detection or investigation of terrorist-related activities or other serious crimes. This access will only be allowed in specific cases and only after consultation of the penal database of the nation and the Europol database. All consultation applications of the data stored at ETIAS will be subject to a process of verification, which will be carried out by a tribunal or an independent authority.

ETIAS is built on the foundations of existing information systems (EES, SIS, VIS, Europol, Eurodac and ECRIS). The development and application of EES and ETIAS will be applied together and parallel to ensure that costs are significantly reduced. The cost of the development of ETIAS is estimated at 212.1 million Euros and the average annual cost of operations is calculated to be 85 million Euros. ETIAS is expected to be completely operative by 2020.

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La sécurité interne de l’Union européenne a été un sujet de préoccupation constant depuis le début du mandat de M. Jean-Claude Juncker, président de la Commission européenne. Dans son discours de septembre dernier, M. Juncker annonçait qu’en novembre la création d’un Système européen d’autorisation et d’information concernant les voyages (ETIAS) serait proposée. Il s’agit en définitive d’un système automatisé qui permettra de déterminer qui est autorisé à voyager dans, et à travers, l’espace Schengen.

Qu’est-ce que l’ETIAS ? L’ETIAS sera un système automatisé créé pour identifier les risques associés aux visiteurs exemptés de l’obligation de visa voyageant dans l’espace Schengen. Tous les ressortissants de pays tiers bénéficiant de cette exemption et envisageant de se rendre dans l’espace Schengen devront demander une autorisation avant d’entreprendre leur voyage en UE. L’information collectée grâce à ce système, toujours dans le plein respect des droits fondamentaux et du règlement touchant à la protection des données, permettra de vérifier les éventuels risques sécuritaires pour l’ensemble de l’Union et ses ressortissants.

La décision finale d’autoriser ou de refuser l’entrée d’un ressortissant d’un pays tiers serait prise par les garde-frontières nationaux, chargés des contrôles aux frontières en vertu du code frontières Schengen, la vérification des voyageurs de pays tiers exemptés de l’obligation de visa ayant eu lieu au préalable. En définitive, l’ETIAS identifiera les personnes susceptibles de représenter un risque sécuritaire pour l’ensemble de l’UE avant qu’elles ne franchissent n’importe laquelle de ses frontières extérieures.

Par ailleurs, l’ETIAS est conçu de façon à inter-opérer avec les systèmes déjà existants, comme le système d’entrée et de sortie (EES). Son interopérabilité avec d’autres systèmes d’information sera également établie de sorte qu’ils puissent être consultés par l’ETIAS: système d’information sur les visas (VIS), base de données d’Europol, système d’information Schengen (SIS), Eurodac et système européen d’information sur les casiers judiciaires (ECRIS).

L’ETIAS fournira une information cruciale, nécessaire aux autorités des États membres pour œuvrer avec un certain degré de prévention avant qu’un citoyen présumé dangereux pour la sécurité de l’Union n’atteigne les frontières extérieures de Schengen;  il améliorera la détection du trafic d’être humains (notamment en ce qui concerne les mineurs); il aidera à aborder le problème de la criminalité aux frontières; et il facilitera l’identification des personnes dont la présence au sein de l’espace Schengen pourrait constituer une menace à la sécurité de l’Union.

Les États membres et Europol auront accès à l’ETIAS sous des conditions strictement définies: prévention, détection ou enquête sur des délits de terrorisme ou autres délits graves. Cet accès ne sera autorisé que pour des cas concrets et uniquement après consultation des bases de données pénales nationales et des bases de données d’Europol. Toutes les demandes de consultation des données stockées par l’ETIAS seront soumises à un processus de vérification conduit par un tribunal ou une autorité indépendante.

L’ETIAS sera construit sur la base des systèmes d’information existants (EES, SIS, VIS, Europol, Eurodac et ECRIS). Le développement et l’application de l’EES et de l’ETIAS doivent être mis en œuvre conjointement et parallèlement afin d’assurer une considérable économie de frais. Le coût de la mise en place de l’ETIAS est estimé à 212,1 millions d’euros et le coût annuel moyen de ses opérations à 85 millions d’euros. L’ETIAS devrait être complètement opérationnel en 2020.

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European Security Agenda

The European Security Agenda, passed in April 2015, sets out the measures necessary to ensure an efficient European Union response to terrorist and security threats from 2015 to 2020.

The Agenda is a vital part of the renewed internal security strategy. It provides support to the member states in the fight against terrorism and the prevention of radicalisation, impeding organised crime and the fight against cybercrime.

The main measures put into place since the Agenda was passed are:

Terrorism

Europol’s European Centre against Terrorism (ECTC) was launched in January 2016. The aim is to enhance support for member states in the fight against terrorism and radicalisation, facilitating coordination and cooperation between national authorities.

Borders

Thanks to the Commission’s awareness-raising policy, current member states make full use of the Schengen information system. Throughout 2015, the Commission has introduced legal and technical improvements to this System.

FRONTEX has produced a manual which includes an initial set of common risk indicators in relation to foreign terrorists in order to help border authorities.

Radicalisation

In October 2015, the Commission launched The RAN Network Centre of Excellence, with the idea of facilitating and improving the process of exchanging experiences and improving cooperation with the RAN network, of backing up preventive measures and of consolidating, informing of and sharing knowledge, better practice and specific research in the field of preventing radicalisation.

Financing terrorism

A programme bringing together financial information services (FIU) of the states has been set up to detect and impede terrorist financial and laundering activities.

Firearms

In 2015, the Commission proposed a complete review of the 477/91 directive, which sets out the legal framework applicable to firearms. The review aims to restrict the availability of some of the most destructive semiautomatic firearms and those which can easily be converted into completely automatic weapons, and also to improve the information exchange procedure between member states, traceability and setting out norms applicable to firearms. The Commission then implemented a Regulation applicable to common norms concerning deactivating firearms in November 2015.

In 2015 the Commission presented an action plan concerning firearms and explosives which includes: (i) measures concerning the use of detection-related technology and normalising its use; (ii) the development of innovative tools of detection; (iii) tightening existing measures and the creation of new ones to improve the safety standards of travellers, and (iv) the use of existing tools to enhance the gathering and exchange of information and thereby improve security standards.

For more information on the European Security Agenda in these links:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1445_en.htm i http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-1495_en.htm.

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