Brussels, 2 August 2005
Terrorist attacks using explosives or chemical, biological,
radiological and nuclear substances on mainline or metropolitan railway
systems pose a clear and present danger to EU citizens. This is why the
European Commission has decided to fund a research project to design
and demonstrate an anti-terrorist security system architecture to
better detect these terrorist threats and hence better protect railway
passengers. The project will combine information from combine
information from sensors, remote control or autonomous cameras, ground
penetrating radars and line scanners. This is one of 13 projects
selected under the ‘Preparatory Action for Security Research’ to
improve the security of EU citizens and strengthen the European
industrial base. The eight technology projects and five supporting
activities selected will receive EU funding of €15 million. Given the
increasing importance of security research, the Commission proposed to
substantially increase the yearly budget from €15 million to roughly
€250 million a year from 2007.
Vice-President Günter Verheugen said: “The recent events in London
show how vulnerable public transport systems are to terrorist attacks.
The Commission is determined to do its part to better protect our
citizens and fund EU wide targeted research efforts.”
Vice-President Franco Frattini, responsible for the coordination of
the fight against terrorism, said: “The findings of the research
projects will constitute yet another small but important step in
strengthening the EU’s capacity to prevent and counter terrorism.”
Other selected projects will look at improving surveillance of
European harbours and coastlines and at integrated protection systems
of the complete air transportation system, including aircraft, ground
infrastructure and information networks against terrorist attacks, as
well as attacks by Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS).
Another project aims to detect earlier suspicious activities by
robustly securing computers linked to networks. It addresses the
interoperability of intelligence services in order to enable
information analysis and consolidation from different sources.
The projects aim to define both the required technological solutions
and the supporting operational concepts. Commission services are now
preparing the third and last call for proposals of the Preparatory
Action for Security Research, planned for publication in early February
2006.
To prepare for the new financial period starting in 2007, in April
2005, a European Security Research Advisory Board (ESRAB), composed of
private and public security stakeholders, was created and is in the
process of advising the Commission on the content and the
implementation of security research within the 7th RTD Framework
Programme (2007-2013).
For the full list of 13 projects, see MEMO/05/277
For more information on security research see MEMO/05/116 and
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/security/index_en.htm
For more information on the Commission’s activities in the fight against terrorism see MEMO/05/272
Quelle: http://europa.eu]
