European Commission to propose CIA-style EU intelligence agency

Brussels: The European Commission is to propose the creation of a European intelligence agency modelled on the American CIA in order to confront the threat of terrorism and facilitate the sharing of information on suspected terrorists and those involved in conflicts abroad, officials said.

The EC's Interior Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos on Thursday made the announcement during a press conference at the end of a European Interior Ministers summit in Brussels, one day after EC chief Jean-Claude Juncker outlined the plan in his state of the EU address in Strasbourg.

He said recent attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, Spain, and in Turku, Finland, demonstrated that the EU needed to review its security strategy in the long-term, Efe news reported.

In this context, he said a European intelligence was needed in order to boost the gathering and sharing of information on potential terrorists returning to Europe from abroad.

The agency would permit the automatic transfer of such intelligence between EU member states, Avramopoulos said.

The proposal is expected to be made in October.