France and Germany are pushing for Europe-wide lesgislation requiring operators of mobile messaging services to allow access to encrypted messages as a counter terrorism measure.

France’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve met his German counterpart, Thomas de Maiziere, to unveil plans to limit the use of encrypted messages to fight terrorism.

Cazeneuve said that laws are needed across the EU to compel operators of encrypted messaging apps to help governments monitor communications among suspected extremists, while at the same time protecting the digital privacy of citizens.

“This in no way means the protection of citizens’ data and communications will be breached. Rather, we should find legal, technical solutions to ensure judicial investigations,” said Cazeneuve.

De Maiziere echoed Cazeneuve’s sentiments, saying that operators are obliged to help counteract terrorist activities online. He called for social media operators running encrypted services to cooperate with security services and the police in criminal investigations.

“We have had good experiences in the fight against child pornography. Therefore, in situations like this, it has become an obligation for operators to remove illicit content from the internet. We think this also applies to terrorism-related messages,” De Maiziere said.

After a series of deadly attacks in France and Germany this summer, the two interior ministers stressed the need for a unified European system for sharing police information. They also suggested that visitors to Europe’s border-free zone should register in advance on an electronic database, similar to the ESTA system used for visitors to the United States.