Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown successfully steered through a package of measures aimed at cutting off the sources of terrorist funding. "Just as there will be no safe haven for those who perpetrate terrorism, there will be no hiding place for those who finance terrorism," he told reporters after the meeting of EU finance ministers.

Finance Minister Brown, widely seen as the likely successor to Premier Tony Blair, highlighted the importance of EU nations standing shoulder to shoulder in the fight against terrorism. "Across Europe we will act as one to send a message to terrorism that while lives have ended, the cause for justice never dies," he said. "And we will show at every stage that because we hold steadfast to enduring ideals of freedom and justice, terrorism will always be defeated by democracy."

Speaking before the European Parliament's foreign relations committee, Foreign Minister Jack Straw also thanked EU colleagues for their messages of support and solidarity, which, he said, were of "very great importance when facing a national trauma."

The London bombings, which have so far claimed the lives of over 50 innocent commuters, have indeed drawn Europeans closer together. "We are all Londoners now," declared the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe shortly after the attacks. On Friday, hundreds of EU officials, including foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom, held a two-minute silent vigil in the heart of the EU district of Brussels. And on Thursday, most of Europe will come to a standstill to remember the victims of the terrorist atrocities.

The EU is strong on expressions of solidarity -- it reacted in a similar way to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the United States and last year's bombings in Madrid. It has also drawn up no shortage of declarations and directives aimed at tackling terrorism -- an updated EU counter-terrorism action plan adopted in December lists over 150 measures. But when it comes to concrete action, the results are less impressive.

A common EU arrest warrant was agreed several months after the 9/11 attacks, but only came into force in April after Italy dropped its objections. In the aftermath of the Madrid bombings, an EU anti-terrorist 'tsar'-- Gijs de Vries -- was appointed to coordinate member states' counter-terrorism efforts, but the Dutchman has no executive powers, no police officers under his control and virtually no budget. Likewise, moves to create a European-style FBI, or even allow police forces to cross frontiers as easily as terrorists do, have run into a brick wall because of concerns they may erode national sovereignty.

"There is a paradox in the EU's role in counter-terrorism," writes Daniel Keohane of the London-based Center for European Reform. "On the one hand, the governments agree in principle that cooperation at the EU level is a good thing because of the cross-border nature of the terrorist threat. On the other, they are slow to give the Union the powers (such as investigation and prosecution) and resources (such as spies and money) it would need to be truly effective."

British Home Affairs Minister Charles Clarke will attempt to square this circle when he presents a further raft of anti-terrorist measures to EU interior ministers Wednesday.

Central to this package is a proposal, also backed by France, Ireland and Sweden, to force mobile phone companies and Internet providers to keep customer data for a minimum of 12 months. London believes the measure is essential in the fight against terrorism and will have only minor effects on civil liberties. "Provided there are proper consequences, no one is threatened by the retention of such data," Straw told Euro-deputies.

However, the European Parliament takes a dimmer view of the proposal. In a report adopted last month, it said the measure would be disproportionate, costly and unusable. If all the traffic data covered by the proposal did have to be stored, the report noted, the network of a large Internet provider would accumulate a data volume equivalent to almost 2.5 million miles worth of full files -- enough to reach the moon and back ten times over. "With a data volume this huge, one search using existing technology, without additional investment, would take 50 to 100 years," it concluded.

After last week's carnage in London, European lawmakers may be more sympathetic to the British government's point of view. But even if they agree to the plan and all 25 member states put into national law, past experience shows there is little chance it will be fully implemented.

"National governments find it hard to coordinate their own ministries and agencies involved in counter-terrorism," says Keohane. "Trying to coordinate the collective efforts of 25 governments at the EU level is exponentially more difficult."

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