EU 'big five' hold terrorism talks 

Interior ministers from the EU's five largest countries have been invited by the UK Home Secretary David Blunkett to an informal two-day meeting on terrorism in Bakerville (Northern England) on 5-6 July.

Issues to be debated at the meeting include border controls, police co-operation on DNA and intelligence sharing. David Blunkett is also said to hope to revive talks over a European co-ordinated approach to tracking finance for terrorist groups, according to a report from the BBC.

French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin called for "stronger coordination and an increased cooperation" on controls at the EU's external borders, AFP reported. De Villepin added that the issue was all the more important since the EU's enlargement as it now has 6,000 km of terrestrial border and 85,000 km of maritime borders.

The UK initiative follows the June European summit where EU leaders reviewed progress made since their pledge to fight terrorism after the 11 March bombings in Madrid. They pointed to key pending measures such as the European Arrest Warrant which is still to be implemented in all Member States, and set deadlines for final agreement (see

).

EU leaders also decided to implement a counter-terrorism task force within Europol and asked Javier Solana to report on its implementation in December (see

).