EU top prosecutor: Bloc must close 'prosecution gaps' for terror cases

FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 4, 2013 file photo, Eurojust President Michele Coninsx, left, and Friedhelm Althans, chief investigator of the Bochum police in Germany, speak at the start of a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands. Coninsx, a career prosecutor and counterterrorism expert from Belgium, said that among the EU’s 28 member nations, laws differ on how to deal with lone participants in terrorist actions, or lone recruiters of terrorists. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File) (The Associated Press)

Graphic shows NATO defense spending. Includes Russia's defense spending.; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101 mm; (The Associated Press)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The European Union's top criminal prosecutor says member countries must update and harmonize their anti-terrorism laws to deal with European-born participants in Islamic jihad, as well as extremists acting alone.

Michele Coninsx, president of Eurojust, the EU's agency for judicial cooperation, told The Associated Press that despite much progress, the bloc is entering an era "where we see popping up new prosecution gaps" that she said could hinder cross-border efforts to fight terrorism.

Coninsx, a career prosecutor and counterterrorism expert from Belgium, said among the EU's 28 member nations, laws differ on how to deal with lone participants in terrorist actions.

She said EU countries' laws similarly vary on how to treat people leaving to fight with extremist groups in Syria or Iraq, or who have returned home from there.