French President Emmanuel Macron said that extremist attacks are a “European reality” and the European Union must tighten the screws on weak spots like external borders and the internet.

The calls follow two deadly extremist attacks in France and another in Austria in recent weeks.

Mr Macron’s remarks came after he, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the leaders of the EU’s executive and political arms held a video conference to discuss anti-terrorism strategy.

The group also addressed journalists, a mix of voices intended to underscore the need for collaboration to defeat terrorism.

The response to terrorism and radicalisation must be “common, coordinated and rapid” with “methodic” work in the weeks ahead, before a meeting of European heads of state in December, Macron said.

Extremist attacks have bloodied numerous EU countries over the years. Mr Macron noted that on Friday, France will mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris attacks that killed 130 people at a music hall and cafes on November 13, 2015.

The French leader stressed the need to develop a shared database and improved police cooperation, and said he wants a “deep reform” of how the external borders of Europe’s visa-free travel area are policed, a plan he made public last week.

“All weaknesses at the external border or in one member state is a security risk for all members,” Mr Macron said.

He additionally wants to get “terrorist content” pulled from the internet within an hour of its appearance, “something that must absolutely be put in place in the weeks ahead”.

Interior ministers from EU member nations are scheduled to meet on Friday about how to accelerate and improve anti-terrorism work in progress, said European Council President Charles Michel, who attended Tuesday’s video conference along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The EU’s national leaders will review the situation at a December meeting, Mr Michel said.

The conference came a week after a man who officials said had tried to join the Islamic State group shot four people dead in Vienna before police shot and killed him. The shooting has strengthened calls in Austria for a crackdown on Islamic extremism.

In France last month, an Islamic extremist killed three people in a church in the French city of Nice, and another extremist beheaded a teacher near Paris because he had shown his students cartoons of Islam’s prophet for a discussion about freedom of expression.

As a result of the attacks, Mr Macron last week proposed tighter controls on the EU’s external borders, more coordinated policing inside the bloc’s visa-free zone and changes to EU migration policy.

Read more: French leader decries Islamist terror attack against teacher

French militant group and mosque to close after teacher’s killing

Europe’s new data privacy law has put a small army of tech firms that track people online in jeopardy and is strengthening the hand of giants such as Google and Facebook in the $200 billion global digital advertising industry.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/justice-and-fundamental-rights/data-protection/2018-reform-eu-data-protection-rules_en) brought in by the European Union in May is designed to protect personal information in the age of the internet and requires websites to seek consent to use personal data, among other measures.

The ability to track internet users has attracted hundreds of companies that harvest and crunch user data from websites – with or without the consent of the site owner – to form very specific individual consumer profiles.

GDPR poses a challenge to those groups because they all need consent to use the data. While sites often request consent on behalf of the ad tech firms they use directly, uncertainty over whether every link in the supply chain is GDPR-compliant is pushing some to leave Europe altogether.

Concerns about GDPR should, however, benefit Alphabet’s Google and Facebook as their loyal customers are more likely to give consent to carry on using sites, allowing the U.S. giants to keep amassing and analysing vast amounts of GDPR-compliant data that advertisers will pay to use.

Big publishers such as national newspapers are also likely to keep their readers and believe they can benefit by eventually charging advertisers more for online slots in the knowledge they are compliant with the new EU rules.

“It’s challenging for the digital ecosystem,” said Mark Read, joint boss at the world’s biggest ad agency, WPP.

“But if consumers feel confident that their data is being protected and they understand how it is being used and it’s done with permission, ultimately that should be a good thing for clients and for us,” he told Reuters.

TANGLED WEB

From a standing start nearly 30 years ago, the internet has become the largest advertising medium in the world because it allows firms to target consumers with ads based on anything from their browsing history, comments, spending power to location.

Within the tangled ecosystem are multiple firms that help brands and ad agencies connect to sites that fund content with targeted ads. For every dollar spent by an advertiser, about half may go to ad tech groups, according to industry estimates.

When an internet user pulls up a page multiple bid requests are sent into the advertising ecosystem touting facts about the person such as demographics and interests, as well as the nature of the site they are viewing.

That personal data can then pass through a dozen or more ad tech firms before a company or ad agency bids at an auction for space on the website and an advert is loaded. It is that spread of personal data that risks breaking the new EU privacy law.

For example, a firm that provides ads for a website viewed on a mobile phone may use other partners not included in the compliance chain to provide information about a user’s location.

That doubt about compliance is threatening the myriad ad tech middlemen and is also prompting advertisers and publishers to rethink how they share their user data.

“In a world where we are putting the consumer first, there are only going to be so many opportunities for the very colourful ecosystem of companies to obtain consent,” said Andrew Casale, head of ad group Index Exchange (http://www.indexexchange.com).

UNCERTAIN TIMES

In the midst of the disruption, some ad tech groups are pulling out of Europe. Harry Kargman, founder of mobile ad firm Kargo (https://www.kargo.com), told Reuters the company had withdrawn for now because it did not know how GDPR would be applied.

“There is too much uncertainty,” he said. “And I don’t think (that will change) until they apply it in specific cases.”

Verve (https://www.verve.com), a company that helps advertisers target consumers on mobiles based on location, and Drawbridge (https://www.drawbridge.com), a cross-device user data firm, have both stopped operating ad businesses in Europe.

Factual (https://www.factual.com), another company that provides consumer data based on their location, also temporarily scaled back its operations in Europe after realizing the mobile apps it relies on “could not safely claim they were compliant”.

Others groups higher up the food chain have also been hit.

France’s Publicis, one of the world’s top five advertising companies, said it had felt the effect.

“Advertisers were cautious about spending money in supply chains that they weren’t absolutely sure they could target safely or legally,” said Steve King, CEO of Publicis Media.

Kargo’s Kargman expects Facebook and Google to benefit from the uncertainty. The two companies are likely to receive a high ratio of user consent given their loyal customer base while both own high-quality data because users post likes, dislikes and location, or search for areas of interest on Google or YouTube.

The companies also have deep pockets so can ensure they are compliant, throwing engineers and lawyers at the problem and reassuring brands at a time of uncertainty.

But they too have had to make changes.

Facebook lost about 1 million European monthly active users after GDPR and it said a desire by some users to avoid targeted ads is likely to lead to a modest revenue hit.

In response to GDPR, it has asked advertisers to certify they have the proper consent to use any data from third-party brokers, potentially shedding itself of some liability.

Google is also requiring publishers to secure consent when using its ad products on their properties. Marketers and partners also need to now use more of Google’s own services.

It has stopped providing easy access to lists that helped companies evaluate the success of their ads by showing which users clicked on them. Advertisers must now use Google’s Ads Data Hub application to measure the effectiveness of campaigns.

Google declined to comment for this article. It has previously said GDPR is a big change and is working with partners on compliance.

GOOD NEWS FOR PUBLISHERS?

Of the more than 20 executives spoken to by Reuters, from ad bosses to publishers, tech groups, brands, lawyers and consultants, all expect the supply chain to thin out – leaving publishers to potentially receive a greater slice of ad revenue.

“Given the number of actors it could take some time though,” said Phil Smith, head of UK advertiser trade body ISBA (https://www.isba.org.uk).

Leading British sports website GiveMeSport (https://www.givemesport.com) is one publisher hoping the biggest overhaul of data privacy laws in more than 20 years will challenge the system.

“There are too many middlemen and they’ve been eating the cake,” General Manager Ryan Skeggs said. “We’re hoping GDPR will help weed them out. The sites that do well, theoretically speaking, should then make more money.”

Three of the leading UK newspaper groups – Rupert Murdoch’s News UK (https://www.news.co.uk), The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com) and The Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk) have joined forces in the Ozone Project to sell their online inventory, or ad space, together, offering advertisers access to 39 million users.

Project leader Damon Reeve said publishers had lost control of their data to tech vendors. By compiling only quality inventory, he hopes marketers and publishers will start sharing user data directly – making them less reliant on third parties.

That should provide a boost to the newspaper industry which is still grappling with the shift online, where ad rates are far lower than those charged for a space in a physical edition.

“By 2020, Ozone could add circa 30 million pounds ($38 million) per annum – not a trivial contribution to a national newspaper newsroom,” said analysts at consultancy Enders Analysis (https://www.endersanalysis.com).

Adam Smith, a director at WPP’s media buying arm GroupM (https://www.groupm.com), agreed the focus on user compliance was likely to cut the amount of available inventory. “That feeds into price inflation for the sought after inventory,” he said.

How long the initial impact of GDPR will last, though, is not yet clear as many consumers – tired of the constant permission pop ups – are just giving consent to access sites. Prosecutors are also yet to bring any cases for data breaches.

But GDPR has ramped up the speed of change in what has been such a fragmented industry. “This kind of consolidation is natural in most maturing industries,” Enders analyst Matti Littunen said. “GDPR has just accelerated it.”

More than 100 African migrants managed to force their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco on Wednesday when hundreds tried to storm the highly fortified border, a Spanish police spokesman said.

Television images showed some of the migrants with bloodied arms and legs, apparently caused by the razor wire that tops the border fences, cheering as they walked towards a temporary reception centre. Most of them were young men.

“I love Spain!” shouted one. Some were draped in European Union and Spanish flags.

More than 3,800 migrants have crossed the Moroccan border into the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla so far this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. The route accounted for 14 percent of the total 27,600 who arrived, mainly by sea, between January and July, a 130 percent increase on the previous year.

Five migrants were injured in the jump, and seven Spanish policemen suffered burns caused by a corrosive substance thrown by the migrants, the spokesman said.

During a recent visit to Spain, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to increase dialogue with Morocco to handle migrant inflows to Spain, which is now the main destination for people seeking a better life in Europe.

EU leaders have failed to agree a long-term plan on where to house migrants since brokering a convoluted deal in June that appeared designed to appease divergent views rather than provide concrete solutions to the crisis.

Eight days ago, five European Union countries agreed to take in 141 migrants on board the Mediterranean rescue ship Aquarius, a move that ended a four-day standoff in which Spain, Tunisia and Malta refused the ship entry.

Turkey would have to back out of its agreement with the European Union to stem the flow of migrants into the bloc if the EU does not deliver visa-free travel for Turks, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said.

Visa-free access to the EU – the main reward for Ankara’s collaboration in choking off an influx of migrants into Europe – has been subject to delays due to a dispute over Turkish anti-terrorism legislation and Ankara’s crackdown after a failed coup.

Cavusoglu told Germany’s daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the agreement on stemming the refugee flow had worked because of “very serious measures” taken by Ankara.

“But all that is dependent on the cancellation of the visa requirement for our citizens, which is also an item in the agreement of March 18,” Cavusoglu said in a release in advance of comments to be published in the newspaper’s Monday edition.”If visa liberalisation does not follow, we will be forced to back away from the deal on taking back (refugees) and the agreement of March 18,” he said, adding that the Turkish government was waiting for a precise date for visa liberalisation.

“It could be the beginning or middle of October – but we are waiting for a firm date.”

European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said recently he did not see the EU granting Turks visa-free travel this year due to Ankara’s crackdown after the failed military coup in mid-July.

Jewish and Muslim leaders have accused the European Union of “naked discrimination” by ordering the compulsory labelling of all kosher and halal meat.

An advisory group of imams and rabbis at the Office of the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, said it was wrong to single out meat acceptable to some communities while not requiring the identification of conventional methods of slaughter.

MEPs voted overwhelmingly by 559 to 54 in favour of labelling meat from slaughterhouses that do not practise stunning, to inform secular consumers or those concerned with animal welfare how the animal died.

Millions of cows, goats and chickens bleed to death each year in the UK after having their throats slit under Muslim and Jewish slaughter techniques. The practices are exempt from legislation requiring animals to be numbed to pain, but animal welfare groups and the Government’s veterinary experts say they are cruel and should be ended.

The RSCPA supports compulsory labelling because, although religious meat is well identified in kosher and halal butchers, some surplus meat enters the general food chain. The UK has stopped keeping statistics, but Meat Hygiene Service figures from 2004 suggest that 114 million halal animals and 2.1 million kosher animals are killed annually. One Muslim organisation, the Halal Food Authority, insists on stunning, but other halal and almost all kosher slaughterhouses say stunning would violate their interpretation of religious texts.

The imams’ and rabbis’ advisory group and the inter-faith organisation Faith Matters complained that the ruling would not apply to other slaughter methods such as electrocution, which involves stunning.

“Faith leaders have said that these regulations unfairly target kosher and halal products, as conventional stunning methods have a 9 per cent failure rate and may also cause pain to animals,” it said. They added: “We support the concept of fair and universal labelling but believe that such an amendment is naked discrimination. It singles out religious communities who have been careful to undertake humane food preparation for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.”

Labelling is unlikely to come into force for some time because it requires approval from EU member states and a second reading in the European Parliament. Once adopted, large food businesses will have three years to adapt to the rules and smaller operators five years to comply.

Religious slaughter is banned in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. The British Veterinary Association says all animals should be stunned before slaughter but, where that does not happen, religiously-slaughtered meat should be labelled to inform shoppers what they are buying.

Last year, the Government’s veterinary advisers, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, said chicken and turkeys were likely to be conscious for up to 20 seconds after an incision across their neck. “Such a large cut will inevitably trigger sensory input to pain centres in the brain,” it said. “Such an injury would result in significant pain and distress before insensibility supervenes.”

Source: The Independent By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent