European Union’s justice and interior ministers met in Brussels on Thursday after the terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital and said they want a quick completion of the legislation that will tackle terrorism.

In a joint statement, they said: “We stand determined in our common fight against terrorism. As stated by the Heads of State or Government and the leaders of European institutions, this is an attack on our open, democratic society”.

In the light of the attacks and recognising the substantial progress already made at member-state and EU level to enhance the collective ability to combat terrorism, ministers are convinced of the need to further build upon the combined national efforts to investigate the networks involved in the Paris and Brussels attacks and adopt the PNR directive in April 2016 and implement it as a matter of urgency, thereby ensuring that passenger information units (PIUs) exchange data between them as soon as possible.

Moreover, they ask swift completion of legislation on combating terrorism, on systematic checks at external borders of the Schengen area, on control of the acquisition and possession of firearms, on the extension of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) to third country nationals; implementation of the action plan to fight terrorism financing; fight against document fraud and full implementation of existing EU rules on explosive precursors; and further cooperation in counter terrorism between the European Union and Turkey and the countries of North Africa, the Middle East and the Western Balkans.

The 28 EU ministers also stressed the need to share information with transport authorities and operators as appropriate, so that risk assessments can be conducted in an effective and efficient manner, and mitigating measures can be adapted as necessary to potential threats to transport.

Click here to read the full joint statement.