Brussels has hosted the first meeting of the Standing Committee on Internal Security of the European Union, an organism which aims to coordinate the actions of member States in the field of internal security

The Spanish Director General of the Police and Civil Guard, Francisco Javier Velázquez, chaired the first meeting of the Standing Committee on Internal Security, the COSI, in Brussels on Thursday, which began the process of designing a joint strategy to deal with global threats.

The meeting was attended by directors of police and heads of security forces in Europe, who examined joint measures for tackling terrorism, human trafficking, drug trafficking and cyber crime.

The COSI has been recently created under the Spanish Presidency of the European Union based on the guidelines established by the Treaty of Lisbon. Its objective is to strengthen the co-ordination of the operational actions between EU Member States in relation to internal security.

The launch of this committee, together with the definition of the new EU's Home Affairs Security Strategy, are the two main priorities in this area for the six-month Spanish Presidency.

The COSI's first mission is to evaluate operational co-operation in the EU to identify weaknesses and to recommend the appropriate measures to correct them. In the case of terrorist attacks or major catastrophes, the Committee will provide support to the Justice and Home Affairs Council.

Other tasks entrusted to COSI include co-ordinating the action of European agencies with responsibilities in areas of justice and home affairs, such as EUROPOL, EUROJUST, FRONTEX and CEPOL. It must also ensure that none of their activities overlap and that there is a real focus on their requirements.

In terms of scientific and criminal policing, the President's Office of the COSI will review the implementation of the Prüm Treaty (relating to cross-border co-operation) with regards to the exchange of DNA data, finger prints or the EUCARIS system for vehicle information enquiries.