"We must in the days to come, make sure that this pain transforms itself into concrete actions," the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told a news conference in Riga. "With the pain, we have already begun to work on the response."
She was speaking after a meeting between the EU's executive Commission and the Latvian government, which has taken over the rotating presidency of ministerial councils.
Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma told a separate news conference that a wide range of measures had been discussed. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said, however, that it was premature to take decisions.
Efforts should be made, he said, to improve coordination among national governments and security agencies. One issue likely to be discussed further is a proposal for EU states to share records of air passengers -- a measure that has been held up in the European Parliament over privacy concerns.
New security measures will be discussed by foreign ministers at a meeting on Jan. 19 and by interior ministers on Jan. 29.
Mogherini said the bloc had to address threats through internal security measures and also in its relations with other countries, notably in the Arab world, Africa and Asia.
Two masked gunmen killed 12 people at the offices of the weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday. Several of the dead had drawn cartoons in the past lampooning Islam.
