[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 21 (Monday, May 25, 1998)]
[Pages 919-921]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement of European Union/United States Shared Objectives and Close 
Cooperation on Counter-Terrorism

May 18, 1998

    1. The United States, the European Union and its member states are 
strategic allies in the global fight against terrorism--a grave threat 
to democracy, and to economic and social development. They oppose 
terrorism in all its forms, whatever the motivation of its perpetrators, 
oppose concessions to terrorists, and agree on the need to resist 
extortion threats. They condemn absolutely not only those who plan or 
commit terrorist acts, but also any who support, finance or harbour

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terrorists. They recognize that terrorism operates on a transnational 
scale, and cannot effectively be dealt with solely by isolated action 
using each individual state's own resources. They work together to 
promote greater international cooperation and coordinated effort to 
combat terrorism by all legal means and in all relevant bilateral and 
multilateral fora--from the Transatlantic Dialogue to the United 
Nations.

The International Legal Framework

    2. Extradition and mutual legal assistance arrangements are in 
operation or will be developed between EU partners and the United 
States. The EU and US cooperate in the United Nations framework to 
elaborate the necessary international legal instruments for the fight 
against terrorism. They work in tandem to promote universal adherence to 
the eleven international counter-terrorism conventions. EU partners 
contributed to the rapid and successful negotiation of the most recent 
UN Convention (for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings) based on a 
draft proposed by the US. Now they are cooperating to consider the terms 
of a draft UN Convention on the Suppression of Nuclear Terrorism.

Areas of current EU/US mutual interest

    3. (i) Terrorist Fund-raising: EU partners are pooling their 
knowledge and experience to work to cut off terrorists' sources of 
funding. They have agreed a set of action points, and their operational 
agencies are working on joint initiatives against terrorist funding. The 
US participated in an EU seminar in 1997 which shaped this work, is 
briefed regularly on current developments in this key area, and will 
take part in a follow-up EU seminar in Vienna in October 1998.
    (ii) Chemical/Biological Terrorism and other threats: During the UK 
Presidency the EU and US have shared their thinking and compared best 
practice in the areas of CB terrorism, Terrorist arms trafficking and 
Bomb scene management.
    (iii) The Middle East Peace Process: The EU briefs the US regularly 
on its current 3-year programme of counter-terrorism cooperation to 
enhance the effectiveness of the Palestinian Authority in this key area, 
including an extensive programme of human rights training. To strengthen 
EU/Palestinian links still further in the fight against terrorism, a 
declaration creating a joint Security Committee was agreed in April 
1998. The Committee now meets regularly to discuss security issues.

EU/US Consultation and Information Exchange

    4. Policy cooperation is developed bilaterally and at EU/US level. 
Operational cooperation, including intelligence-sharing, is handled 
bilaterally by national law enforcement agencies, and is given high 
priority. To identify and assess the scale of the terrorist threat, the 
EU member states and the US exchange information and assessments on 
terrorist trends and latest developments. The regular meetings on 
counter-terrorism between the US and the EU Troika of the Second and 
Third Pillars are used to exchange views on all aspects of terrorism 
policy, including trends in countries of particular current concern in 
the Middle East and elsewhere. Information is also shared on significant 
developments on either side of the Atlantic, eg the creation of Europol, 
which will include terrorism within its remit soon after its launch. The 
US has updated EU partners on the impact of its decision last October to 
designate 30 foreign terrorist organisations.

Further Cooperation

    5. While recognising the wide range of work successfully 
accomplished hitherto, both sides see scope to strengthen further their 
close ties in the field of counter-terrorism, and are working to do so--
by additional information-sharing at their regular Troika meetings, 
enhanced bilateral intelligence exchanges, and sustained cooperation at 
the United Nations and in other fora to advance their common objectives.

Note: This statement was made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on May 18 but was not issued as a White House press release. 
An original was not available for verification of the content of this 
statement.

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