Terrorism or crime - a confusion of aims

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“Under the guise of tackling terrorism the EU is planning to bring in a swathe of measures to do with crime and the surveillance of the whole population. After the dreadful loss of life in Madrid we need a response that unites Europe rather than divides it.”
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor

On 24 March Statewatch published a detailed analysis of the 57 measures being put forward following 11 March 2004 (Madrid) by the Council of the European Union (the 15 EU governments) and the European Commission. The analysis found that 27 of the measures had little or nothing to do with tackling terrorism including measures to do with crime in general and the surveillance of telecommunications and of movement. This strategy begs the question whether there is, at the highest level, a confusion of aims and effort.

A classic example is a Commission Communication dated 29 March 2004 (COM 221). This contains a proposal for a Council Decision on exchanging "information and cooperation concerning terrorists offences" (see below) and a "wish-list" on criminal matters. The logic is to bring together the:

Union's arsenal of weapons against terrorism. Many of these are not specifically anti-terrorism but range wider while including terrorism [and] a link should be established between terrorism and other forms of crime" [even though these are] not always immediately obvious..if the fight against terrorism is to be totally effective, it must be handled in conjunction with the fight against other forms of crime.

It argues that the similarity comes, in part, through the use of "similar" methods and proposes everybody’s (criminal or not) bank accounts should be "registered" and "be accessible to law enforcement agencies". Companies and charitable organisations too are to be targeted because they could be "infiltrated" by terrorists.

The big project is the creation of a "European Criminal Record" to be held on a "European Criminal Registry" - which according to a Commission spokesperson would contain not only all convictions and disqualifications but also all charges brought (even of those found innocent) from the whole of the EU - in "the fight against crime, and in particular terrorism".

The simplistic notion is that there is an intrinsic link between terrorism and organised crime and indeed all crime - turned around it implies that all crime is linked to terrorism.

Framework Decision: exchanging information

The concrete proposal in the Communication is draft Council Decision on "the exchange of information and cooperation concerning terrorist offences". This envisages in Article 2 the exchange of "information" during investigations and prosecutions concerning terrorist offences as set out in Article 1 to 3 of the 2002 Framework Decision on combating terrorism. The "information" is to be communicated to Europol and Eurojust (EU prosecutors) and made "available immediately to the authorities of other interested Member States".

It is clearly sensible that such information should be made available. However, the proposal contains no provision for the "information" to be removed/deleted should a person be found innocent. Equally, there is no provision for the "information" passed over on those caught up in a "criminal investigation" but never charged to be removed/deleted. This latter category is especially worrying as an "investigation" into a suspected terrorist offence would embrace not just the subject but their family, friends and work associates to see if there were any links. A typical investigation might involve 20-40 other people who are found to be quite innocent but "information" on them could be "immediately" transmitted to dozens of agencies across the 25 EU member states.

In April ten Muslim "suspects" were arrested in the north of Enlgand but never charged - this could have led to several hundred names and personal details being put into EU-wide circulation with no obligation

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