Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Berlin Christmas market attack, what assessment they have made of the European Counter Terrorism Centre.

The UK supports Europol’s efforts to assist Member States in addressing the key security threats emanating from firearms, finance, the internet, and serious and organised crime.

As part of this, the UK welcomes the role of the European Counter-Terrorism Centre (ECTC) in disrupting terrorist activities, particularly in detection of international flows of terrorist financing and illegal firearms, and enhanced internet referrals. The ECTC can and does play an important complementary role in supporting Member States in important areas such as, terrorist financing (Europol Financial Intelligence Unit), foreign fighters (Europol Focal Point Travellers), and the removal of online terrorism related material (Europol Internet Referral Unit).