GCHQ boss: Snub to UK would raise EU terror risk
THE EU faces a heightened terror threat if it chooses to limit security co-operation with the UK after Brexit, a British spy chief suggested last night.
In an unprecedented intervention, GCHQ boss Jeremy Fleming warned that the bloc would suffer at the hands of hostile foreign powers or terrorist groups if it decided to cut ties.
He said the eavesdropping agency had helped foil four terrorist attacks in Europe in the past year alone.
The warning is likely to be seen as a direct riposte to the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who has threatened to exclude Britain from a series of pan-European security deals.
And yesterday Mr Barnier suggested that Britain would have to regain the EU’s ‘trust’ after Brexit, telling Theresa May that ‘trust does not fall from the sky’. He also ruled out some of the UK’s key demands for crime and security co- operation, including on the European arrest warrant, which are seen as vital for public protection by British ministers.
The row over security has been raging ever since the European Commission said Britain should be locked out of the secure aspects of the EU’S Galileo satellite navigation system, despite huge UK investment.
In a rare public address yesterday, Mr Fleming attacked Mr Barnier’s position and warned that security would be harmed if the relationship between Britain and the EU is downgraded.
Speaking at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, the director of GCHQ said: ‘This visit comes at a pivotal time, of course as the UK leaves the EU.’
Mr Fleming said enhanced cooperation was needed to deal with the ‘evolving threat’ faced by countries rather than a break in the security partnership.
He said the Brexit security deal being discussed by negotiators should ‘ensure that the UK and EU member states continue to work together to keep us all secure in the future’.
He added: ‘I’ve spoken [today] about the changing threat that we all face, the role that GCHQ plays in countering that threat, and how important our partnerships are both in Europe and across NATO. These threats are more complex and more global and none of us can defend against them alone.
‘They require a pooling of resource, expertise and, critically, data so that we can investigate and disrupt our adversaries.’
Breaking with the tradition of not discussing specific British spying activities, he said that classified GCHQ material had helped European countries thwart cyberattacks.
Mr Fleming, who was deputy director general of MI5 until March last year, addressed the growing threat posed by Russia and referred to GCHQ measures that have halted the Islamic State.
‘In the last year we’ve played a critical role in the disruption of terrorist operations in at least four European countries,’ he added.
GCHQ, one of the world’s biggest surveillance organisations, is relied on by individual EU member states for its expertise and relations with powers such as the US, Canada and Australia.
In a speech in Vienna yesterday, Mr Barnier ruled out the UK retaining access to the bloc’s criminal extradition scheme and intelligence databases.
He insisted that Britain must leave the European arrest warrant scheme and create a ‘streamlined’ replacement that is likely to be more limited.
In a barbed message to the Government, he added: ‘We need more realism on what is and what is not possible.’
Mr Barnier said that the hard-line approach was necessary because of the UK’s ‘red line’ demands to leave the oversight of the European Court of Justice and end free movement of people.
‘This cooperation is both unique and unprecedented,’ he said. ‘And it is made possible by the trust between member states. This trust does not fall from the sky. There is no magic wand.’
Mr Barnier insisted that the UK will have a weakened relationship with EU agencies, such as the EU’s Europol police body. He said that the bloc wanted to ‘cooperate strongly’ and is seeking the most proximate possible relationship under the EU’s legal order but that restrictions were obvious.
British ministers, including Brexit Secretary David Davis, have insisted that failure to secure a unique deal on security will harm the bloc by losing the UK’s expertise in the field.
A spokesman for the Brexit department said: ‘Keeping citizens in the UK and EU safe is an absolute priority.’
‘Threats are more complex and global’