Date of release : 10-03-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

At the international conference on terrorism, democracy and security, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister and current President of the European Council was in Madrid, the "City of Martyrs," where he paid tribute to "the memory of those killed by the force of fanaticism."

"The day Madrid was attacked, so was all of Europe and the world," he stated. "The place or day that terrorism attacks is of little importance, because victims of terrorism have no nationality," he said.

The European Union has made the fight against terrorism one of its top priorities, Jean-Claude Juncker noted in this context. The EU has developed a common definition of terrorism, created a European arrest warrant, intensified the struggle against the financing of terrorism, and has also worked to facilitate the exchange of information among the national services. The Union has also appointed an antiterrorism coordinator, Gijs de Vries, Jean-Claude Juncker underscored.

"Despite all this, we are far from the results we have to achieve," Jean-Claude Juncker observed.

The Prime Minister felt that we must first and foremost fight the reasons that generate terrorism: "Poverty, despair, and lack of hope are where terrorism recruits," he noted.

He also called for international solidarity in the struggle against terrorism.