Kingdom of Non paper

the Netherlands June 2020

A new Security Union Strategy

Introduction

Providing security for all Europeans is among the most important aims of the European Union. In our
fast and ever-changing world, the EU’s Security Union Strategy must be optimally tailored to the
present day and foreseeable future challenges. This requires a multi-disciplinary, integrated, all-
encompassing and advanced approach, with the rule of law as fixed point of departure and which
respects national competences including safeguarding national security.

Besides holding continuous attention for other, already existing threats such as terrorism and
radicalisation, and keeping in mind the external dimension to internal security, the strategy should
also reflect awareness of present day challenges such as the multibillion drug market 1 and (online)
child sexual abuse. The COVID-19 crisis has further exposed the pressing nature of strengthening the
approach to the prevention and repression of fraud, organised crime, digitally facilitated crime, and
the need for a continuous evaluation of the implications of measures taken on the rule of law. The
strategy should also accordingly aim to enhance cybersecurity and resilience to hybrid threats, and
should consider how technology can improve security within the Union, while ensuring full compliance
with fundamental rights and freedoms, and combat crime in a comprehensive manner, as well as
safeguarding the open, free and safe digital domain. Many of these issues call for greater operational
cooperation and better information sharing between EU Member States, in which JHA agencies play
an important role. Ensuring adequate resources for Europol and Eurojust within a modernised and
financially sustainable MFF is therefore essential.

Organised crime

Drug production and trafficking and associated crimes

The drug market represents a major source of income for organised crime within the EU. Illicit drug
production and trade has a large impact on society, inter alia on the security of EU citizens, legitimate
businesses and on the preservation of the rule of law. The effects in Member States are local exponents
of internationally operating networks. Increasing our combined efforts also within the EU context will
be crucial to fighting drugs production and trafficking, and cross-border organised crime in general.

One of the core objectives of combatting drug production and trafficking and associated
crimes 2 in EU context should be to reduce the disruptive effects of organised crime on European
society. In addition to the effective monitoring of national law and practice, upholding the rule of law
in Member States requires effective anti-corruption policies and measures, as well as ensuring
protection of professions which are vital to the rule of law such as lawyers, public prosecutors, and
judges.

A versatile, multi-disciplinary approach is especially important when dealing with organised crime,
such as drug production, trafficking and associated crimes. The disruptive effects of this cross-border
problem, should be determinedly tackled by a combination of preventive and repressive measures
which:

(1) increase the barriers to undertake criminal activities which disrupt business models. This would
inter alia require strengthening the effectiveness of the EU mechanism to swiftly ban the trade and
possession of precursors for drugs, coordinated support for logistical, financial and digital hubs to
prevent the trade in illicit commodities and cross-border sharing of prevention methods. Besides that,
we consider that it would be beneficial to establish an Atlantic harbour working group to exchange
information and best practices on fighting and preventing drug trafficking and to further develop the
Maritime Analysis Operation Centre on Narcotics (MAOC-N), inter alia when it comes to monitoring
secondary airports and air strips 3;

1
As described in the recent EMCDDA/Europol EU Drug Markets report of November 2019, retrieved from
https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/drug-markets-report-2019
2
Money laundering, corruption, arms trade, fraud, cybercrime, property crime, extortion and murder.
3
MAOC-N is a treaty organisation comprised of 7 countries (Netherlands, Ireland, UK, France, Spain, Portugal
and Italy) that concentrates on fighting trans-Atlantic drug trade over sea and air, and is largely funded by the
EU. MAOC-N has proven to be very successful in its role. Hundreds of tons of drugs has been confiscated with a

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(2) facilitate the apprehension of criminal High Value Targets and prominent organised crime groups
by strengthening multidisciplinary information exchange, including through modernization of the Prüm
decisions and reinforcing EMPACT cooperation on High Value Targets;

(3) facilitate the seizure and confiscation of criminal assets as much as possible, for which a follow-
the-money approach is required in line with the current draft Council Conclusions on financial
investigations 4, inter alia by improving international cooperation through Financial Investigation Unit
cooperation, through the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC) at Europol and by
harmonising the European regulatory framework and supervisory mechanism for Anti Money
Laundering/Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) 5.

Fraud
Combatting fraud is crucial in the fight against organised crime and will require even more attention
during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of the EU-wide recovery from
the pandemic, a comprehensive financial package is being developed. It is essential to actively and
collectively prevent this crucial support package from being misused to commit large-scale fraud, and
subsequently from being used to finance criminal activities. Organised Crime Groups which have
infiltrated the legal economy, for example by setting up shell companies, laundering money and
corrupting civil service organisations, are well positioned to undertake such fraudulent practices. To
ensure an effective fight against various forms of fraud and related crimes, we will need prevention
and enforcement based on thorough monitoring by supervisory and law enforcement authorities of
economic sectors and companies on the basis of risk indicators, close cooperation with Europol and
Eurojust, as well as adequate resources, within a modernised and financially sustainable MFF, for OLAF
and the EPPO to fulfill their central role. It is also desirable for the EU to work more effectively on
(administrative) recovery of misused EU funds. Finally, safeguarding the respect for the rule of law,
including through an effective monitoring system and rule of law conditionality, also remains important
in this context.

Child sexual abuse

As illustrated above, the COVID-19 outbreak has brought upon us new challenges, as well as an
intensification of existing challenges, such as the significant impact the outbreak has had on the risks
of increase of child sexual abuse. In this context, it is paramount to enhance our response to this
type of crime, by focusing on prevention, law enforcement, and victim assistance.

In terms of prevention, completing the background check of an individual’s possible criminal history
in cases where such persons intent to work with children is crucial. Exchanging best practices will help
Member States‘ competent authorities to complete these checks for preventive purposes. An example
of such a best practice is the Certificate of Good Conduct (Verklaring omtrent Gedrag), which is
mandatory in the Netherlands for almost all workers or volunteers who are in close contact with
children, such as day care organisations and schools. An existing supporting system for elevating
these and possibly other best practices to EU level is ECRIS. This highly effective EU system plays a
key role in the prevention of sexual abuse within the EU by enabling background checks. To benefit
fully from this, it is important that the collective use of ECRIS by Member States is optimised and that
requests for information by national authorities are followed up on without any delay.

Another possible action for prevention relates to a category of persons that may currently go
undetected. This category of persons concerns EU nationals convicted in the third countries for child
sexual abuse. As a first step, we would consider it valuable if the Commission could explore the
possibilities for obtaining information on criminal records from third countries in order to better prevent
sexual abuse within EU Member States in the future.

In a strategy for law enforcement when dealing with online child sexual abuse, public-private
partnerships are essential. They are especially necessary to enable Child Sexual Abuse Material

street value of several billions. It is an important information and analysis hub between Europe, the Americas
and western Africa.
4
Draft Council conclusions on enhancing financial investigations to fight serious and organised crime (6884/1/20
REV 1)
5
As also outlined in the Commission Action Plan on Anti-Money Laundering published on 7 May 2020, retrieved
from https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/200507-anti-money-laundering-terrorism-financing-action-plan_en

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(CSAM) content to be quickly removed from the internet, as the nature of the internet makes it possible
to switch from a server in one Member State to another. Member States need to work together because
only a European approach can offer a solution. Industry and service providers also have a key role in
this, as they need to take appropriate steps for keeping children safe on their platforms. In the context
of law enforcement, every Member State could have a national hotline to flag imagery and to
subsequently request removal by online service providers, of which the follow-up timeframe would be
monitored. Governments could then decide on appropriate measures based on this data. Additionally,
combatting online child sexual abuse could be more effective if we further develop the cross-border
gathering of evidence (e.g. e-evidence).

Cooperation is also important as regards victim assistance, as European cooperation should provide
for victims to obtain effective redress for damages in cross-border cases. Enabling effective redress
for victims is important with regard to material damage and as a sign of recognition.

Digital technologies, cyber security and hybrid threats

Cybersecurity and hybrid threats

Cybersecurity is pivotal to ensuring trust in digital technologies. In order to prevent and respond to
digital threats, safeguarding the security and resilience of electronic communication networks and
services should be central to the EU approach to cybersecurity. Digital resilience should be increased
by enhancing cybersecurity information sharing, professionalising and strengthening of the EU CSIRTs
network, incident handling, cooperation, stimulating coordinated vulnerability disclosure and
improving EU-wide cooperation. Bringing additional attention to cross-border dependencies and supply
chain consequences is a vital component for addressing these issues, as well as the testing of (crisis
management) plans and procedures in practice. European cooperation can further support digital
resilience, while respecting the national capacities and competence, as well as existing structures and
mandates.

External threats are also of influence on the stability of the cyber domain and on the security of the
EU. The significant rise in malicious cyber activities during the COVID-19 crisis has sparked great
concern. The EU should be resolute to prevent, discourage, deter and respond to malicious cyber
activities. Therefore increased attention to the external component of cyber threats, such as through
the framework for a joint EU diplomatic response, the cyber diplomacy toolbox, is important.

Although this is not limited to the digital domain, the COVID-19 crisis has underlined the importance
of countering hybrid threats. In this area, including safeguarding economic security, countering
foreign interference and addressing state-sponsored disinformation, effective and coordinated EU
information sharing and cooperation is essential.

Law enforcement fit for the digital age

While the rollout and development of digital technologies is of crucial importance for European
innovation and competitiveness, the European Union should also ensure that digital technologies
contribute to enhancing the safety and security of citizens and combat the threats to European and
national security, by striving for an approach to law enforcement which is fit for the digital age.
The adoption and use of digital technologies is indispensable for effective law enforcement in the digital
domain. Law enforcement, therefore, should remain an integral part of Europe’s Digital Future.

The digital domain is being used for a wide range of information sharing and activities. More and more
the digital domain is being used to spread content and engage in activities that are illegal or unlawful.
For example cybercrime, CSAM and terrorist content online (TCO), but also to plan criminal activities
in the offline world, such as liquidations and attacks, which directly affects our safety. The basic
principle should thus be that what is illegal offline, should also be illegal online. Effective law
enforcement is essential to counter and combat these online violations. This means that quick and
effective procedures should be in place to effectively combat illegal and unlawful online content or
activities. At the same time, we must work towards ensuring an online environment that upholds and
safeguards high standards of fundamental rights and the rule of law. Only then can we ensure a free,
open and safe digital domain.

A strengthened cooperation between the Commission, Member States and private parties will
furthermore be conducive to advance the capabilities of law enforcement to both protect against
threats, illegal content and activities online and to enhance the safety and security of our citizens.