Hearing of Sir Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union at the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), during the EP plenary session (12-15/09/2016) in Strasbourg.&nbsp; Questions by Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT),&nbsp; Birgit SIPPEL (S&amp;D, DE), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), Cecilia WIKSTR&Ouml;M (ALDE, SE), Cornelia ERNST (GUE/NGL, DE), Judith SARGENTINI (Greens/EFA, NL), Gerard BATTEN (EFDD, UK) and&nbsp;answers by Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union.

Strasbourg

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

KING, Julian (UK, EC)

SIPPEL, Birgit (S&D, DE)

WIKSTRÖM, Cecilia (ALDE, SE)

BATTEN, Gerard (ENF, UK)

SARGENTINI, Judith (Greens/EFA, NL)

hearing

ERNST, Cornelia (The Left, DE)

KIRKHOPE, Timothy (ECR, UK)

hearing of Julian KING (T)

Hearing of Sir Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union: extracts from the questions and answers at the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT), How you would go about promoting a security Union in the difficult climate that we are facing today, in Europe and particularly on current and ongoing intergovernmental approaches to security matters?

SOUNDBITE (English), Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union, Either the Member States can do it all alone, and as I said, I think there is a clear EU role, and I think there's a lot that we can bring. We can bring our agencies, our systems, information and others, we can help strengthen borders, and we can help strengthen behind borders through effective use of SIS (Schengen Information System)We can bring legislation, that legislation can help to set standards, I am thinking for example of money laundering.

SOUNDBITE (English), Birgit SIPPEL (S&amp;D, DE), Do you intend to conduct such an evaluation (of policy in the area) especially regarding full use in practice, to identify existing shortcomings and the way to remedy them, so to guarantee that gaps or excessive legislation do not exist and how will you proceed?

SOUNDBITE (English), Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union, I agree with those of you who have been calling for an overview of the effectiveness of the policies in this area.I think that if you confirm me, my arrival in this role would be an appropriate point for us to do that.

SOUNDBITE (English), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), Sir Julian, can you reassure members of this committee that the security union, whilst important, is not going to stretch beyond its competencies, and there will be maintained the clear division between national intelligence gathering and the exchange of law enforcement information?

SOUNDBITE (English), Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union, these threats that we are facing, that I described briefly, are common threats that affect us all, all across Europe, and we should do what we can to work together to respond. And for me that means looking at ways of reinforcing cooperation, and crucially, building trust. Because your systems wont work unless people trust them.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cecilia WIKSTR&#214;M (ALDE, SE), How would you ensure that the upcoming discussion and policy developments on security are evidence based and focused on concrete security outcomes? In this regard, can you commit in ensuring a clear definite distinction between the union's security policies on the one hand the asylum and migration policies on the other hand?

SOUNDBITE (English), Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union, now there's some reported cases of terrorist perhaps using migration routes in order to come back, or come to Europe, and that is why I think it is good that we've taken steps, and I would support those, to reinforce hotspots and spread best practice, including reinforcements of our arrangements at borders. But all of that must, one, respect our fundamental rights principles and two, be really separate from the work that is ongoing on migration.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cornelia ERNST (GUE/NGL, DE), How you are going to delimit your work from that of Commissioner Avramopoulos, because you don't have your own directorate, so I was just wondering how the whole system will work, because that's not clear to me?

SOUNDBITE (English), Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union, its not just with Commissioner Avramopoulos, because if we start thinking about some of the work that needs to be done on de-radicalisation, it means going into a great deal of detail with youth, education, some of the support structures that can be given including economic support. And I would want to work with a full range of colleagues. I welcome the fact that the President has created a task force to support me.

SOUNDBITE (English), Judith SARGENTINI (Greens/EFA, NL), I want to address the trusts as these are, and can be vehicles for criminal and terrorist activities. Trusts, including the non-profit making or non tax paying trusts, can be misused for criminal and terrorist activities. As a Brit, how do you judge the risks of British trusts, and can we count on your support to improve this Commission's proposal on the table, on the issue of trusts?

SOUNDBITE (English), Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union, I will actively engage in the discussion around trusts, and I will do so as a member of the college, in line with the oath that I will have taken, not as representative of the British government, or British interests.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gerard BATTEN (EFDD, UK), How long do you think the job will last, given that Britain is on the brink of leaving the EU at any moment?

SOUNDBITE (English), Julian KING, Commissioner-designate for the Security Union, I am not here to present or defend the positions of the British government this evening, but I think that Prime Minister May has been crystal clear about respecting the result of the referendum. How long would I be here as a results? That's another way, a clever way, of asking to make a prediction about the negotiations, which I can't do.