"After Charlie Hebdo, I had proposed, and finally it was done, the creation of the counter-terrorism center at Europol. I believe it's a moment to make one more step forward, and put the basis for the creation of a European intelligence agency," Avramopoulos said on the sidelines of the EU extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council.
Paris suffered from two waves of terrorist attacks this year. In January, 17 people died in killings at the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket. On November 13, a series of coordinated attacks at various locations in the French capital left 130 dead and over 300 injured.
The EU law enforcement agency Europol announced the creation of a counter-terrorism center in late April, to support national law enforcement authorities in fighting foreign terrorists, terrorist financing, violent extremist content online, and illicit trafficking of firearms.
