Internal Security Fund

The EESC agrees with the need to allocate more resources to operational and preventive security-related actions and programmes and supports the creation of a flexible and transparent fund – distributing resources according to clear and predictable operational criteria and objectives – in order to strengthen them. The Security Fund should be designed so as to strengthen a preventive policy, which requires active engagement and cooperation with civil society, especially in terms of caring for and making arrangements for victims, auditing security actors, and preventing radicalisation. Grants from the Fund – in the case of both EU Member States and third countries – must only go to public institutions that can effectively ensure that human rights will be strictly upheld.

Key points

The EESC:

• agrees with the need to allocate more resources to operational and preventive security-related actions and programmes and supports the creation of a flexible and transparent fund – distributing resources according to clear and predictable operational criteria and objectives – in order to strengthen them;
• highlights the Security Fund should be designed so as to strengthen a preventive policy, which requires active engagement and cooperation with civil society, especially in terms of caring for and making arrangements for victims, auditing security actors, and preventing radicalisation;
• stresses that the grants from the Fund – in the case of both EU Member States and third countries – must only go to public institutions that can effectively ensure that human rights will be strictly upheld;
• stresses that it must be treated as an observer in the creation and development of this Fund so that the views of organised civil society can be heard at EU level;
• points out the need to specifically address the risk posed by the violent radicalisation of far-right groups and to counteract criminal organisations' financing mechanisms and capital flows;
• believes that it is necessary to be more than merely reactive and to deepen preventive policies, addressing both the root causes of why some people become radicalised, posing a danger to others, and the financing mechanisms of violent groups;
• stresses that human rights – the philosophical cornerstone of the EU – must be an integral element and a prerequisite of any measure taken. In the case of a financing fund, this should be made clear by refusing resources from the Fund to those who do not demonstrate compliance with the minimum standards.