Specialists and EU countries are calling for an EU-wide Passenger Name Record but MEPs remain divided. Would such a system jeopardise data privacy? EPTV investigates.

Stemming the threat of jihadist terror in Europe

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/11978679/m006-0003-enx.srt

Attacks on France’s capital city  have once again sparked heated debate

How can we best tackle the threat  of those returning to Europe

after fighting in Syria,  Iraq and other conflict areas?

Europol say between 3,000 to 5,000  Europeans have joined the fight in Syria,

Frédéric Van Leeuw  attempts to identify them.

He is the federal prosecutor leading  Belgium's counter-terrorism efforts.

His analysis of the situation is alarming.

One aspect of the situation is  people going out to jihadist areas

without us noticing,  they leave unnoticed.

and they are then  a so-called ‘potential danger’

that we notice that they  have been to Syria and elsewhere.

Belgium is not the only country  facing these kinds of issues.

One explanation for the scale  of the phenomenon

is that it’s much easier to get into Syria  than Afghanistan or Somalia.

can also facilitate some of these journeys.

To receive information on passengers  at borders, for example,

For all counter-terrorism specialists,  the EU is lacking the tools

to deal effectively with jihadists  returning to Europe,

in particular a data exchange system on  air passengers taking international flights,

both into and out of the EU:  a Passenger Name Record.

From experience, it is the one of the few,  or even the only way,

for our States to detect suspect movements  by supporters of jihad.

Our intelligence services are able to detect -  before they leave -

around 70% of those  who aim to go to Syria and Iraq.

But that leaves 30%, and given  how easy it is to get to Turkey,

the use of the PNR  is one of the only means.

At Brussels International airport, we met  a key player working on the issue.

The data collected would include:  the travel itinerary, passenger name,

credit card number  and even their home address.

However, no data revealing  a person’s race, ethnic origin,

political or religious opinions  would be recorded.

Regarding all the objections  the European Parliament had raised,

particularly over the proportionality principle,  the length of time data is stored

and controls and barriers on transmitting  these records to non-EU countries,

it remains to be seen if  the proposal will be judged satisfactory.

I cannot yet comment as it will depend  greatly on the parliamentary debate.

The biggest advantage  is that we can construct profiles.

What does that mean? It means  we can build a terrorist profile

on the basis that we know that terrorists

often buy their tickets  two or three days in advance

and plan journeys with several stopovers.

With this information we can develop a  profile and compare against the database.

In England, we learned that  by working in this way with the profiles,

we have a 20% chance of, through  the databases, identifying terrorists.

But the creation of such a record  is dividing the EP –

the Civil Liberties Committee already  rejected the PNR proposal in April 2013.

In 2015, will security arguments  take priority?

It’s always very important  to get a very delicate balance

between essential security  of our citizens on the one hand,

but to equally ensure that we preserve our  fundamental freedoms and a free society.

So that’s the delicate balance  we always have to strike.

The Court of Justice has said  very clearly that it’s not legal,

it’s not in line with the fundamental right  on data protection

You have to choose who you shoot.  You have to choose who you go after.

You have to set some determinants for  saying there is a risk or suspicion.

Don’t survey everyone as that would be no  different from China or Bahrain's actions.

a Europe-wide air passenger data exchange  system is absolutely necessary

but it will be of limited impact if it isn’t done  in conjunction with grassroots intelligence.

The EU Parliament hopes to establish its  position on the proposal by the end of 2015.