As is normal in the majority of Europol ‘s activities, the Conference took place in a semi clandestine climate, and with scarcely any noise made in the media, despite that directives were agreed on there about the whole of Europe ‘s police activities for the years ahead.

In the opening of the conference, Mayor Orejo considered Europol as ” the main institution in the struggle against terrorism”, describing it as “the suitable forum where the member states of the European Union should work to design a new model of common security for Europe”.
Immediately afterwards, he urged the police representatives to “tomen conciencia and encourage their respective countries to start the Order of European Search and Capture” (The Euro-Order). The aim of this is to make the alleged criminal immediately available to the authorities of the country where they have allegedly committed the most serious crime. This would do away with the current extradition procedures.

Mayor Oreja declared that “terrorism is not only a group of commandos who act, but is a project that tries to root itself in society, and to combat it it is also necessary to struggle against the social, economic, political and also communication structures which support and nourish it.” That is to say, a political project which is based on radically dissenting political activity, even if not violent in any way, can qualify as terrorism.

MADRID EUROPOL DOCUMENT

At the end of the Madrid conference, all the responsables from European police forces signed the so-called MADRID DOCUMENT.
It is the Europol guide to the “anti-terrorism struggle” for the coming years and in it, amongst other things, the following proposals are agreed on:
To support the initiative in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece “as a new experiment with a joint investigation team in relation to “anarchist terrorism””.

In the course of the Conference, Juan Cotino, director general of the police, had already announce that Spain, Italy and Greece had reached an agreement to create an ” investigation group with the aim of combatting the terrorism of radical groups which act in the three countries”, this being the first time that groups called “radicals” or “anarchists” officially enter into the field of activity of Europol, and it is not chance that this happened immediately after the antiglobalisation struggles which took place in Prague and (in parallel to the the Conference in Madrid) Davos.

The “creation of a data base what would include the details ( registros unsure of translation) of the most wanted terrorists in the European Union, to support a proactive search for them (and not just in relation to intelligence work)”. Beforehand, it had already been announced that this data base would go “beyond the merely necessary information”. It was not more specific than this, but could mean that the right to privacy (which is fundamental in the Spanish Constitution) could become meaningless (not sure of translation).

Turning to the far east, Europol proposes nothing less than studying and searching for a way to finance a “plan of rewards and economic incentives for those who contribute information about terrorists” which would need to be approved by the Executive Committee of the europolice. From this moment on, we citizens of the European Union will be able to look around at each other calculating how much money we could receive (or they could demand) for our respective heads.(not sure of translation)

As for the unification of European judicial systems, the Madrid Document of Europol proposes putting in progress of the mutual recognition countries of anti-terrorism legislation between Europol ‘s members. It also proposes the quick and effective implementation of interrogation (rogatorias-unsure of translation) commissions; the simplification of extradition processes, as well as starting a feasibility study for the creation of the Euro-Order.

The EURO ORDER: The Spanish government, in its eagerness to eliminate procedural guarantees relating to detained persons, is leading a particular battle inside the framework of the European Union for the suppression of the guaranteed procedures in the extradition process related to “terrorism”. The European Union is rapidly becoming a police state . (not sure of translation)

On the 28th November last year, it secured an agreement to this effect with Italy, unlike with Portugal which refused this at the Hispano-Lusa summit which took place in Sintra in parallel to the Europol conference, as such an agreement was considered to be in violation of the Portuguese Constitution. At the Europol conference which took place at the same time, Mayor Oreja announced that he was negotiating a similar agreement with Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Spain is leading the way in the creation a European police state.

The leading role which the Spanish State is having in the policification campaign which the European Union is carrying out is astonishing. This is especially so if we compare it to the backwardsness which this country still has in terms of education, health and environmental etc in relation to the majority of its fellow countries in the European Union

Without doubt, the fact that the 1st Europol Conference on Terrorism took place in Madrid, is nothing more than the culmination of a process of leadership in the transformation of the European Union into a police state, initiated by previous Spanish governments. 1995 EUROPOL IS CREATED UNDER THE SPANISH PRESIDENCY The Europol Accord was approved on the 26 July, 1995, under the Spanish presidency of the EU. In fact, its signatory was the Minister of Justice and the Interior Juan Alberto Belloch. On the 12th february 1997 and the 3rd July 1998 respectively, the Spanish parliament approved the Europol Accord and the protocol granting europolice immunity.

JANUARY 1999: EUROPOL IS GIVEN POWERS IN RELATION TO TERRORISM AS A RESULT OF A SPANISH PROPOSAL

From the 11th January 1999, Europol has had powers to combat terrorism. Th= is was considered a success by the spanish representatives. In the European Conference, which took place in London on the 12th March 1998, Jose Maria Aznar made it clear that he wanted Europol “to have powers relating to terrorism from the very beginning”, and he not only secured the creation of an anti terrorist unit at the heart of Europol, but also saw to it that it was presided over by a Spaniard.

SEPTEMBER 99-INTERNATIONAL GATHERING OF HEADS OF POLICE IN MADRID

The 1st Gathering of heads of policefrom more than 60 countries took place in Madrid on the 29 September 1999. The aim of this meeting was to exchange experiences of new police projects, as well as about the harmonisation of policing techniques and methods. The creation of an Executive Commision was agreed to. It was presided over by a Spaniard, the director general of the police, Juan Cotino. It could be no other way.

OCTOBER 1999-TAMPERE SUMMIT. AZNAR PROPOSES TO STRENGTHEN EUROPOL

In October 1999 the European Council held its extraordinary meeting of heads of state and governement of the European Union ” to put in progress the space of freedom, security and justice envisioned in the Amsterdam Treaty”. The Council was opened by Mr Aznar, who amongst other things, proposed the “strengthening of Europol” as a key element in the struggle against the ongoing “organised crime”. The proposal was warmly received by his European colleagues.

FEBRUARY 2000- A SPANISH CAPTAIN HEADS EUROPOL ‘S ANTI-TERRORISM UNIT

In mid-February 2000 the Spanish Interior Minister appointed the Captain of the National Police force, Mariano Simanacas as the person in charge of the European struggle against terrorism. Until then, Simanacas was the chief of the Interpol Section in Spain. He has perfect mastery of English, French and German and has been in Bonn for five years, carrying out counterintelligence work.

FEBRUARY 2000-INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF POLICE CHIEFS IN MADRID

The 1st Meeting of the Executive Commission of the International Forum of Police Chiefs took place on the 17th and 18th of February 2000, in Madrid. It took place in the same place where Europol has just had its meeting (in the Canillas police complex in Madrid) This meeting was presided over by the director general of the Spanish Police, Jaun Cotino, who is also the director general of the Interpol Cabinet. The person in charge of the Anti-Terrorist Unit of Europol, Mariano Simanacas also attented the meeting.

MARCH 2000-LISBON SUMMIT. THE CREATION OF A EUROPEAN JUDICAL SPACE, DRIVEN BY SPAIN

The European Summit took place in Lisbon on the 3rd March. At this meeting the Spanish government drove forward the creation of a common judicial space by way of automatic recognising of sentences and the establishment of a swift and efficient system of judicial cooperation in Europe amon the fifteen, where there are currently very disparate judicial traditions. At this summit, and following the Spanish proposal made in Tampere, the “strengthening of the role of Europol in the struggle against terrorism” was approved as a pending task for the next five years.

Also at this conference the first step was taken towards the creation of a EUROPEAN POLICE ACADEMY for the exchange of information and training of officers. Javier Solana participated in this meeting and proposed the INTERVENTION OF A EUROPEAN CIVILIAN POLICE FORCE IN PEACE MISSIONS. The idea was well received, though with reservations on the part of France and Germany.

NOVEMBER 2000. INTERPOL ELECTS FOR THE FIRST TIME A SPANISH CAPTAIN AS ITS PRESIDENT

Jes=FAs Espigares, General Captain of the Judicial Police was unanimously elected by the 69th General Assembly of Interpol which took place in Rhodes (Greece) on the 4th November 2000. Espigares, whose nomination was made by Juan Cotino, director general of the Spanish police (the highest ranking profession in the National Police Force), has held , among other positions, the post of chief of the commission of Irun (Guipuzcoa), as well as that of the Commander of the Antiterrorist Brigade in Barcelona. Espigares fixed among his priorities the “struggle against terrorism” as a well as combatting “organised crime which makes use of new technologies, especially the internet”. Interpol is a police organisation for the exchange of information. There are 178 countries represented in it. It has enormous data bases and has the intention of exchanging information with the equivalent data bases belonging to Europol, following the recent creation of a Commission formed by police employees belonging to both organisations. This is the first time in its histroy that it has been headed by a spanish speaker.

DECEMBER 2000-MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF EUROPOL IN PARIS

The Executive Committee of Europol met on the 4th December in Paris. Here, at the request of the Spanish delegation which was headed by the Director General of the Police, Juan Cotino, it was approved that the 1st Europol Anti Terrorist Conference would take place in Madrid. Again, Jaun Cotino emphasised the “need to develop Europen judicial and policing spaces around terrorism as quickly as possible”.

FEBRUARY 2001-1st EUROPOL ANTITERRORISM CONFERENCE IN MADRID

Here, as has already been said, the MADRID DOCUMENT was approved. In this document, after analysing “radical groups”, proposes to support the Spanish initiative (together with Italy and Greece) of “investigation related to anarchist terrorists”, pushing for the establishment of a “plan of rewards and economic incentives for those who offer information about terrorists”, as well as the “creation of data base which would include the details (registros unsure of translation) of the most sought after terrorists in the European Union, to support proactively the search for them (and not just in the area of intelligence)”. The official classification of terrorism in the field of the European Union becomes broader everyday, and of course, is not limited to the activity of members of armed bands, but to anyone of a type classified as “anarchist” or in the even broader term “radical”, who opposes the System (Penamiento Unico-Unique Thought-difficult to translate into English), and practices political dissidence, even without using any form of violence