Europe's Anti-Terror Czar Reports to Work

Gijs de Vries, a relatively low-profile former Dutch interior minister and member of the European Parliament, was appointed Europe's first "anti-terrorism czar" last week. The post, created amid a surge of European unity following the Madrid bombings and after years of talks on the necessity of such a position, is a strong sign that European anti-terrorism efforts have taken on a new urgency.

Introduced at a packed news briefing in Brussels on Tuesday this week, the EU's new counter-terorism chief has attracted much attention. But by his second day on the job, Otto Schily, Germany's interior minister -- who was in Brussels for a meeting of EU justice and interior ministers -- was asking for further clarification of de Vries' new duties and his future plans. Indeed, the appointment of this experienced yet relatively unknown European politician has left many raising the same questions.

An experienced European technocrat

The 48-year-old Gijs de Vries was born in New York and has a respected career in European politics behind him. De Vries served as a liberal member of the European Parliament for fourteen years, before taking the position of interior minister in the Netherlands. The dual U.S.-Dutch citizen is fluent in several languages, including French, German and English, and he holds degrees from the University of Leiden and the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Though de Vries has relatively little experience in security and intelligence matters, which has given some commentators food for thought, he is described by others as an experienced technocrat. De Vries will have to call upon all of his faculties, which include a diplomatic and businesslike manner as well as extensive political knowledge, to implement the task he has been charged with: helping to safeguard Europe's security in an ever-more insecure world.

Officially, de Vries will be responsible for seeing that the various government bodies of EU member states and EU institutions in Brussels work together to pool resources and intelligence. Namely, he has been charged with what Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, has described as "breaking down the cultural obstacles to cooperation". What's more, de Vries can use his position to apply political pressure to EU members who lag behind in implementing the anti-terror measures that have already been agreed upon.

De Vries has already promised to improve cooperation between European countries. ''Terror is not just the concern of an intelligence agency in one nation, so the information gained must be shared by all nations,'' he said.

A higher profile in the coming months

How this still somewhat vague job description will translate into action remains to be seen during the coming months. De Vries' plans will become more apparent in June, when he presents more specific proposals to EU heads of state at the next EU-wide summit in June.

But in his first days on the job, De Vries has made some statements indicating his position on certain key issues. Notably, while pushing for the better exchange of resources and analysis, de Vries said that increased efforts to fight terror in Europe cannot forfeit civil liberties.

"There can never be, in any society, a guarantee of 100 percent security," de Vries told reporters on Tuesday after meeting with his boss, Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief.

"We are living in an open society in Europe, an open society in which people can enjoy many liberties," he added. "It is important to preserve those liberties, to build on them."