Spanish National Police hosted and jointly organised CEPOL course 85/2021 on "Terrorism and Counter-terrorism in the European Union (EU)"

The Spanish National Police hosted and jointly organised the course "Terrorism and Counter-terrorism in the European Union (EU)" together with the European Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) and with the support of the EU Agency for Police Cooperation (EUROPOL). The activity took place at the Canillas Police Complex (Madrid) between September 27th and the 1st of October, 2021.

During the five days of the course, around 40 participants from numerous institutions, all of them representing anti-terrorist services of different European police forces Member States, as well as the European Institutions and organisations working on counterterrorism, such as EUROPOL, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) and the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), gathered in Madrid.

All of them are renowned specialists in the field, including the Spanish National Police Intelligence and Counterterrorism Headquarter (Comisaría General de Información, CGI). The CGI, one of the most prestigious and recognised agencies worldwide in the fight against terrorism, acted as the representative of the Spanish National Police and contributed with several presentations.

It should be noted that the course has been attended by members of the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), all of them judges and prosecutors from various European countries who have been invited by CEPOL.

Objective of the course

One of the aims was to improve and update the knowledge of experts in the fight against terrorism. This was done by exchanging best practices in the framework of this phenomenology and including the role of the European agencies involved. On the other hand, the course was addressing the European institutions dealing with this phenomenon and the regulations implemented in this regard, as well as the operational support to investigations provided by EUROPOL/ECTC and FRONTEX.

To this end, lectures and presentations were given on various related topics, such as, for example, the dimension of fundamental rights in the fight against terrorism, the impact of COVID-19 on different forms of extremism, the role that FRONTEX should play in terrorism or the initiatives of the Radicalization Awareness Network (RAN).

The overall goal of this course was to take a step further in the fight against terrorism as a global threat through the coordinated work of all the institutions and agents involved.

The second part of the course will continue in the Netherlands.

This initiative – jointly organised by the Spanish National Police, CEPOL and EUROPOL – does not end on the 1st of October, since EUROPOL will host a study visit at the beginning of 2022.

The training comes from the Portfolio of the CEPOL Knowledge Center on Counterterrorism (CKC CT). This CEPOL Centre brings together professionals from the EU Member States, European Institutions and Agencies holding expertise in a specific thematic area, such as the fight against terrorism.

Read this news item here in Spanish.

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