Brussels Attacks Underline the Urgent Need for an Enhanced European Security Strategy

The recent terrorist attacks in Brussels have proven that Europe is facing an era of unprecedented challenges to its security architecture. The migration crisis, the ever approaching armed conflicts and the persistent threat of global terrorism call for immediate attention and urgent response. GLOBSEC is determined to significantly contribute to the effort of building a better European security and counterterrorism paradigm. For the past several months, we have been working on the GLOBSEC European Security Initiative which is to be presented and thoroughly discussed at the 2016 edition of GLOBSEC.

Due to the surge of terrorism on the European continent, which we deeply condemn, Europe clearly needs to rethink and augment its security and adopt a comprehensive strategy that will work across the borders of national states. Very few people in the world are more qualified to propose such measures than those who have been united by GLOBSEC to work on this Initiative. The aim of the Initiative is to create a set of national as well as European-level policy recommendations designed to increase the continent’s capacity to counter this increasingly sophisticated and challenging security threat.

The Initiative is led by the Honorary Steering Committee which unites senior policy-makers from all over the world. It is chaired by Mr Michael Chertoff, former US Secretary of Homeland Security. Other distinguished members of the committee include former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, former UK Home and Defence Secretary Lord Reid of Cardowan and August Hanning, former Director of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND).

The Honorary Steering Committee provides strategic guidance to the Expert Working Group which is in charge of drafting a set of comprehensive recommendations. “The GLOBSEC conference has completed its first decade and has achieved international respect,” comments GLOBSEC founder Róbert Vass. “It is our duty to build upon this respect and use it for a good purpose. The core members of the Initiative will meet at GLOBSEC 2016 to write the first draft of the report which should be ready later this year,” Mr Vass adds.

Once the report has been finalised, GLOBSEC will undertake a number of steps to present, further discuss and enact this Initiative.