EU leaders agree on measures to counter terrorism

The European Union (EU) leaders on Thursday agreed on measures to counter terrorism, European Council President Donald Tusk said at a press conference.

European Council President Donald Tusk. [File photo: Xinhua]

Tusk said terrorism, "which is still a major threat", was the first topic the leaders discussed at the ongoing two-day summit.

EU leaders agreed to deepen efforts against foreign terrorist fighters who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the extremist groups in the region.

"We want to finalize works on the new border information sharing systems this year," Tusk said.

In addition, they decided to work with the industry to remove extremist content online that is deemed to incite terrorism.

"We are calling on social media companies to do whatever is necessary to prevent the spread of terrorist material on the internet," Tusk added.

On defense issue, EU leaders agreed on the need to set up permanent European cooperation in defense. 

"Within three months, Member States will agree a common list of criteria and commitments, together with concrete capability projects, in order to take this cooperation off the ground," Tusk said.

At the summit, the leaders are also expected to discuss migration, economic and trade issues.