EU institutions' preparedness for terror attacks tested

The European Union's institutions have tested their preparedness for a wave of major terrorist attacks with a mock exercise, the European Commission said Tuesday.

EU officials in charge of coordinating emergency and crisis response were put to the test on Monday with an imaginary scenario of a "near-simultaneous terrorist attack in five EU cities", the European Union's executive arm said.

Officials at the European Commission and the council of European governments in Brussels were involved in the exercise, which ran from 1:30 pm (1230 GMT) to 8:00 pm on Monday.

"The aim of the exercise was to verify the joint capacity of the council and the commission to react quickly and efficiently to a major crisis," the commission said.

A review of the exercise found that coordination structures were adequate and that there was a "good level" of knowledge about them and procedures for using them.

Cooperation between the council and the commission was also good although the review noted a need to better use communication technology.