The European Union is moving towards adopting ambitious anti-terrorism plans in response to the September 11th attacks on the US.
Nonetheless, it still has to agree on a common definition of terrorism.
Justice and interior ministers hold their final preparatory meeting tomorrow before a December 6th/7th session at which they are due to adopt the measures under an EU leaders' deadline.
Diplomats said progress has been made on replacing lengthy extradition procedures between member states with a Europe-wide search-and-arrest warrant after current EU president Belgium offered a compromise.
Under the proposal, the EU would adopt a so-called positive list of all the crimes to which the warrant would apply.
The list is a step forward because the end result will be that we all agree on the same definition of crimes, a diplomat said, adding more precise definitions are still needed.
The original European Commission proposal, which Britain, Spain and Sweden backed, called for the warrant to apply to all serious crimes carrying a certain prison term, except for exceptions such as abortion and euthanasia.
Instead, ministers are set to agree on a long positive list of offences ranging from murder and rape to membership in a criminal organisation and offences on which the EU shares a common definition, such as human trafficking, fraud with EU funds and money laundering.