Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour to be here today to open the first Athens Security Symposium.
I would like to congratulate the Board of the Greek Center for Security Studies (KE.ME.A), and particularly the President of the Centre, Professor Tsakonas, for this initiative, which could not have been more topical, or more timely.
The presence here today of politicians, diplomats, academics, international and regional organisations, representatives from EU Agencies and the presence of the Head of the European Parliament Information Office in Greece, of law enforcement representatives, the military, as well as the private sector, promises a meaningful exchange of views.
We all know that security is at the very top not only of the European, but also of the global policy agenda.
Along with migration, it is also among the top concerns of European citizens today.
These are issues that touch the lives of our citizens on a daily basis. Greece has been in the eye of the storms brewing in our neighbourhood.
It has been at the forefront of old and new security threats emanating from one of the most unstable regions in the world.
In 2014, when I took over my duties as European Commissioner responsible for Migration and Security, but also for the fight against organized crime and drugs, few of us were prepared for the parallel crises we were about to face in these four areas.
While not necessarily connected, both issues, especially migration and security, are today putting in question the very fundaments and cohesion of our European Union: our unity.
We had to learn hard lessons. To adapt the way we work at all levels.
To stand next to our Member States, such as Greece, and help them deal with the massive pressures they are facing on the ground, in the most operational way possible.
However, if anything has become clear over the past two years, it is that we can only manage these issues together.
With TRUST and UNITY.
Why do I say this:
Today's security environment is volatile and unpredictable.
There are different factors that can create insecurity: regional conflicts, economic instability, sectarianism, violent extremism but also poverty, demography and climate change.
What is common among these threats is that they don’t stop at national borders.
Our Member States have the primary responsibility for their security.
But it is clear, and I have been saying this since the first day I became Commissioner, that one single Member State simply cannot address these multi-dimensional threats on its own.
The security of one Member State of the Union is the security of all.
This is why security is at the heart of the European Union's primary mission: to create a Europe that protects.
And this is why for the past two years, we are working towards an effective and genuine Security Union, building on the foundations laid by the 2015 European Agenda on Security.
Here again, we go back to trust.
The past two years, the experiences Europe has had with terrorism have been an eye opener.
The threat affects all of us equally.
We all need to realise that it does not stop at our borders.
Fragmentation makes us all vulnerable.
And this is exactly the mentality change we have been trying to achieve.
In good time, the building blocks of our Security Union should be the same for a Defence Union.
External and internal threats are linked and should be dealt with collectively.
I will explain why.
We are giving our Member States the tools, the structures and the resources to fight these threats better, together.
And we have made real progress in this respect.
Definitely, we are not, where we were three years ago.
In terms of enhancing security at our external borders, with the European Border and Coast Guard and systematic checks of everyone crossing the border.
In terms of improving information exchange, through better and more connected information systems.
In terms of restricting the means with which terrorists commit attacks, such as firearms and explosives.
We have allocated funds to our Member States to better protect their citizens in public spaces against 'low-cost, low-tech terrorism'.
We have strengthened our efforts to control money laundering and other financing sources of terrorism.
We have reinforced the criminal justice legal framework against terrorism.
All these actions of course do not of course change the fact that Member States remain responsible for their national security.
But which national security can we talk about, when terrorists criss-cross national borders to plan, coordinate and execute their crimes?
When the threat is transnational, our response can only be collective.
Terrorism transcends our notion of the nation state.
We need to respond in the same way.
The deep state, resisting this natural evolution has to understand: we are only hurting our own interests by working in security silos. Isolated.
This is the logic of putting Europol at the very centre of our collective operations.
It was of one of my priorities from the very first moment I started my term as Commissioner. And Europol today is not what it was two and a half years ago. Its role is enhanced and its mandate is stronger.
An agency we reinforced many times in resources and in expertise, to provide all the support Member States need to address the threats.
With its own Counter-Terrorism Centre, Europol now guarantees 24/7 operational support to our Member States.
Of course this is a fight that we cannot only fight on the ground, or at our borders.
As Daesh loses territory, the battleground against terrorism increasingly moves to the internet.
The internet is an echo chamber and a catalyst for:
• amplifying the terrorist message for recruitment,
• disseminating knowledge, and
• providing a platform for secure communications.
It is absolutely urgent and indispensable that we achieve a step-change in how we fight terrorism online.
In New York, at the United Nations General Assembly last September, we passed this message loud and clear.
We have to stop terrorists misusing the internet.
Companies, governments, NGOs need to work together as one.
Precisely for this purpose, since 2015, I set up a voluntary partnership with the internet industry through the EU Internet Forum, to take terrorist content off the internet.
We are already removing a lot of terrorist content.
At the beginning it was quite difficult.
Because, we have to admit, that there is a sort of mistrust towards the public sector. But we established a good faith and trustful cooperation with the internet providers and right now more than 90% of terrorist material online is taken down and I have addressed invitation also for smaller companies to sign up and they have started responding positively. Now we cooperate with Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and many other big platforms. More and more we cooperate effectively with the internet industry.
But, now it is time to take this work one step further.
Next week, in Brussels, the Internet Forum will meet again, to redouble our efforts.
We want to push internet platforms to do more.
To move towards more automation in fighting terrorism online, bringing more companies to our partnership, and cooperating better with law enforcement authorities.
The problem of course does not end with the internet.
Recent attacks are showing both the alarming speed and the scale at which some citizens are becoming radicalised.
We clearly face a serious challenge which requires immediate and concerted action.
Threats do not only materialise from the outside.
Threats from the inside are the most frequent, serious and difficult to stop.
Our recently set Radicalisation Awareness Network has served us well since 2015.
It's now time to rethink how we can enhance its impact on the ground.
The results it can bring in stopping our own citizens from taking up arms against us.
And here I will say it again: we cannot stop with security within our own borders.
Our internal and our external security are a continuum.
Europe is not an island. And it will never become a fortress. Europe remains open, democratic and hostable and Europe is based on principles and values we have to defend.
The threats in our neighbourhood materialise at our front door.
This is why we have upgraded security and counter-terrorism cooperation with countries in the Western Balkans and around the Mediterranean, such as Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey.
On radicalisation, firearms trafficking, information sharing on foreign terrorist fighters – cooperation with our neighbours can make a difference in how effectively we can respond.
Again here, our operational agencies, such as Europol, can play an important role.
To enhance its cooperation with third countries, next week we will propose to open negotiations with Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey to enable information exchange between Europol and these countries on crime and terrorism.
Europol is also key in delivering to law enforcement authorities in Europe important information from our military missions in Syria and in the wider Middle East.
A fingerprint found in a terrorist safehouse in Raqqa, can lead to arrests of foreign terrorist fighters on European territory.
After a lot of work and persistence on our side, we now have a liaison officer stationed in Jordan with operation Gallant Phoenix.
Europol is also the host of more than 20 American security officers, to cooperate on terrorism, organised crime, migrant smuggling, drugs and so forth.
I want to close on this point. Cooperation with our international partners and global stakeholders and especially the United States.
This is a historical bond, which we have a duty to nurture and to deepen.
From a political point of view, this is one way for Europe to ensure a role which is commensurate to historical role in global affairs.
I’m responsible on behalf of the European Union for a continuous EU-US dialogue on security and just a few days ago I met again with the Homeland Security Secretary and the Attorney General of the US. And our decision is a given. We will continue our cooperation at all levels.
With a clear strategic vision we have to make sure that Europe has a seat at the table in the major security discussions of the day.
I will give you one recent example.
The US banned laptops from countries in the Middle East. It was widely rumoured that Europe was next.
That is when I took the initiative to pursue a frank dialogue with our American partners.
On the basis of trust and frank cooperation with my then US counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who is now Chief of Staff in the White House, we acknowledged that the threat we face is common.
We agreed on the need to raise the bar of aviation security globally.
By sharing and combining all the information we both had, we arrived to a 10-point action list, of common measures on detection and risk-mitigation in Europe, and around the globe.
Global cooperation, on global issues such as security, can produce global solutions.
Ladies and gentlemen,
A lot has been done in the past three years.
But we are not naïve.
The threat from terrorism is not about to disappear any time soon.
Our neighbourhood is likely to remain unstable.
No country can or should deal with these challenges alone.
This is the lesson we have learnt. Organized crime, terrorism and migration-without amalgamating terrorists with migrants- are also phenomena of our times that transcend borders. International cooperation is a must, and I believe this is one of the messages that this meeting today should extend. Global cooperation in unity, in a spirit of responsibility and trust.
I want to be frank with you. This is what we lack at the level of international cooperation. Trust. And, as I said in the beginning, the deep state still resists.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we live in a globalised world. We have to enhance and deepen international cooperation in order to defend our values, and most importantly, what mankind has achieved especially after the Second World War.
We have to safeguard and defend the EU. Because, it is not the economic crisis that has put at stake the European project and unity, it is the migration and the security crisis. So, we have to enhance and deepen cooperation, overcome all these stereotypes of the past and address these challenges in unity and trust.
The threat is against all of us.
And only collectively can we address it:
With a strong Security Union protecting our citizens, and a global security role for Europe in the world.
I have been championing from the very beginning of my term as Commissioner, that it is the moment for Europe to set up a European Information Agency.
I have to share with you, that at the very beginning, there were many reactions, not necessarily positive, among Member States. But in the short period of three years they all realised, given all these dramatic events we have lived in Europe with the attacks in Paris, in Germany, in Spain, that it is absolutely necessary to start exchanging information and intelligence.
And this can be done only if we set up a genuine Security Union.
The very step was done recently, when President Juncker, in his State of the Union speech in Strasbourg, embraced and endorsed the proposal, and we are moving towards the creation of a European Intelligence Unit..
Collectively and together we can do more in providing our citizens with what is also of their fundamental rights: safety. And security is the umbrella, under which safety can be achieved. For the citizens of our Union and for the citizens of the world.
Thank you very much for your attention.