Sam Tanson, Luxembourg's Minister of Justice;
Credit: SIP
Luxembourg's Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson, joined five of her European counterparts in condemning the terrorist attacks which recently shook France.
The Ministers of Justice of Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands and their representatives, in the presence of the Minister of Justice of Germany, the President of the Council of the European Union, the Commissioners for Internal Market, Justice and Home Affairs as well as the Chair of the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament, issued a joint statement in which they expressed their shock at the violent terrorist attacks in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on Friday 16 October and in Nice on Thursday 29 October 2020. The statement was approved via videoconference on 30 October - before another terrorist attack broke out in the Austrian capital, Vienna on Sunday 2 November 2020.
In this statement, the respective Justice Ministers strongly condemned "these expressions of barbarism" and expressed their condolences to the victims' families and friends. They stressed that terrorism "undermines our common values and divides our societies through savagery and intolerance" and expressed their "unity and solidarity in the fight against terrorism".
The ministers recalled their "profound attachment to the fundamental values of the European Union" and affirmed their "determination to guarantee the effectiveness of these fundamental values by ensuring their protection in all circumstances" as well as to "provide rapid, relentless and firm responses to terrorist acts with due respect to the[se] values".
They went on to highlight the new challenges associated with online communication "allowing the rapid spread of all forms of online hate" and expressed their "determination not to let the use of communication tools [...] be hijacked", noting "with concern the major role played by these communication tools in radicalisation processes, which can lead to hateful, violent and terrorist acts". They recalled the initiatives already undertaken to combine and balance freedom of expression, online and offline, with the fight against hate speech on the Internet and social networks, as well as the importance of the detection, reporting and rapid withdrawal of online terrorist content and the need to regulate more effectively the functioning of online communication platforms to this end.
The statement also underlined the major role played by EUROPOL and EUROJUST in facilitating coordination between all Member States in transnational investigations and the importance of further developing the EUROJUST counter terrorism register. They warned of the need to set up effective mechanisms to ease access by investigative services and judicial authorities to e-evidence and called on the European Parliament and the Council to reach a rapid and ambitious agreement on the draft regulation on the prevention of the online dissemination of terrorist content, stressing that accurate and effective safeguards for the protection of the freedom of expression and other relevant fundamental rights are part of this solution.
The ministers also called on the European Parliament to give its position as quickly as possible on the legislative proposals relating to access to e-evidence and on the Council to enter into a constructive dialogue on encryption in order to preserve the ability of law enforcement and judicial authorities to exercise their lawful powers, both online and offline, while maintaining strong safeguards for the protection of the relevant fundamental rights and the digital security of governments, industry and society.
In any case, the Justice Ministers asked to be closely involved in the discussions and agreed to continue to address these topics on a regular basis.
