Securing the European homeland

The international workshop on “Securing the European Homeland” was held in Rome last Febraury 2nd. The meeting focused on the threats to internal security in EU countries and on what is currently being done in Brussels and in EU capitals to respond to the risk of terrorism. From the discussion it emerged that steps have been taken in the direction of defining possible threats, to the levels of coordination of safety measures and in terms of security legislation, although there are still great difficulties in determining the dynamics of transnational criminal trends. Participants also analyzed the costs of this economy of uncertainty post September 11, which has implications for the insurance sector. During the final session, tangible proposals where put forward in terms of information sharing and coordination, so as to grant greater protection to strategic infrastructures and a considerable increase of the EU security budget was also announced. An interesting part of the debate involved the high tech industry which has always had a key role in the security sector.