Terrorism tops EU agenda

European Union foreign ministers have opened talks on strengthening efforts to combat terrorism.

European Commission President Romano Prodi has insisted that lingering disagreements over Iraq will not impede co-operation.

"We are all under attack, and we behave with a joint action because of that," he said.

In the wake of the Madrid train bombings that killed more than 200 people, the foreign ministers are putting together a package of measures to improve counter-terrorism efforts to be sent to EU leaders ahead of their summit, opening on Thursday.

A draft declaration under consideration labels terrorism a "key threat" to the EU and commits the 25 current and soon-to-be EU members to "act jointly in a spirit of solidarity if one ... is the victim of a terrorist attack."

A package drafted by EU interior ministers last week would create an anti-terrorism co-ordinator at EU headquarters and aims to increase pressure on laggards to follow through on measures they signed up to after 9/11, such as an EU arrest warrant.

Differences remain, however, on intelligence sharing between national police and security organisations.

As well as endorsing the interior ministers' proposals, the foreign ministers will consider what measures might be developed to combat terrorist activity beyond the EU's borders.

Calls from Belgium and Austria for a centralised European intelligence agency were ignored, due to national security and sovereignty concerns in the bigger EU countries and fear of compromising intelligence gathering.

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