Euralarm arrives in Brussels!

MEPs' Brussels meeting –
'Security: wider perspective'

Tony Makosinski attended the late-March MEPs breakfast meeting held in Brussels and provides a flavour of its interesting outcomes.

On March 22nd, at the impressive European Parliament building in Brussels, MEPs Dr. Christian Ehler and Malcolm Harbour co-hosted a special breakfast meeting. This was held in the European Parliament Members' Salon for Euralarm's Euralarm President, Lobbying committee members and other officials, and entitled 'Security: a wider perspective'.

Over 20 participants from Euralarm, the European Commission and the European Parliament were present to discuss issues facing the security industry today. Principal guest was Paul Weissenberg, Deputy Director General of DG Enterprise and Industry in the European Commission. Mr Weissenberg spoke of security as a business enabler, and not as a cost factor for businesses, as is widely misconceived. He noted that a key challenge for the European security industry is to remain competitive in the global market, and to keep up with the pace of technology throughout the world. Such reasoning is behind the upcoming European Commission Communication on an Industrial Policy for the Security Sector, due to be presented by the summer of 2012 .

Mr. Weissenberg praised Euralarm for its active participation in the preparation of the Communication and identified standardisation and certification as two main challenges. He also praised the way Euralarm has created the CertAlarm scheme as a positive route forward and an example to others of how an industry can work together.

Euralarm's address

Hansjuerg Mahler, President of Euralarm, then presented the organisation's objectives, most notably to extend the role of standardisation to the field of services and to create a true single European quality mark for security.

Marc Chabaud, Vice-President of Euralarm, spoke about the role of services in the security industry, and the importance that quality services and maintenance have on the quality and performance of products themselves, underlining the fact that products and services are intrinsically linked. Marc also recalled the distinction between public and private security and pointed out the need to distinguish the specific category of 'civil security', where Euralarm and its members operate. He also referred to the potential impact of the Services Directive on the security sector.

Dr. Christian Ehler, MEP, emphasised the difficulties involved in moving forward with standardisation, and the mismatch that often occurs between the technical and the political elements. He also noted that the European Union must move beyond an array of national security standards. He added that an impetus is needed for European standards development, to avoid third country standards being imposed on market players.

Euralarm members should be prepared to challenge national certification schemes in favour of the adoption of a single, pan-European approval regime with a single EU Quality mark.

With regard to the Services Directive, MEP Malcolm Harbour noted that work on the framework for security services is unfinished and needs examination. He also underlined the importance of the EU standardisation system's ongoing reform, which will likely result in the inclusion of services within the scope of EU standardisation. He encouraged Euralarm to work both on the issues of services and standardisation, as well as aspects of ICT and the digital economy, in which Euralarm could engage with stakeholders – including the European Parliament. He also mentioned that the new EU research programme, Horizon 2020, will be an important instrument to develop projects in the field of security.

Vigorous discussions then followed, during which participants agreed that the fragmentation of the security industry and the inertia of standardisation must be overcome, and that EU member states must be brought on board to help provide the necessary impetus for the sector. The importance of bringing together the security and defence sectors, for example by trying to establish a dialogue between national Ministers of Interior and Ministers of Industry, was also mentioned.