European Union leaders were set to call today for an unprecedented common list of suspected terrorist organisations in Europe in response to the attacks on the United States, a draft statement said.
The leaders also called for a global coalition against terrorism under United Nations auspices and said there was no reason why last week's attacks on New York and Washington should lead to a world economic recession.
A senior EU diplomat quoted the statement as saying: "The European Council calls upon justice and home affairs ministers to undertake the identification of presumed terrorist organisations in Europe...in order to draw up a list."
He said the list might not be made public, unlike a US list of foreign terrorist organisations , but would be used as a tool for police cooperation within the 15-nation bloc. The leaders instructed their ministers to adopt by December radical proposals for a common definition of terrorism and a Europe-wide search and arrest warrant. Nine of the 15 EU member states currently have no anti-terrorism legislation.