Proposed New EU Anti-Terrorism Strategy Likely to be Controversial

By Victor Comras

EU Ministers of Justice met in Brussels November 30 � December 1 to finalize a new, beefed-up, counter terrorism strategy. The document is as much a show piece as it is a reflection of the EU�s enhanced concern with terrorism. The EU Justice and Interior Ministers want to show their constituents that they can response effectively to terrorism. The Ministers underscored that the new strategy is intended �... to make Europe's work on Counter Terrorism more comprehensible and transparent for the general public.� Beneath the rhetoric there is a clear sense that EU leaders know that much more needs to be done to (1) get a handle on terrorism indoctrination and recruitment; (2) enhance intra-European counter-terrorism cooperation and information sharing, (3) tighten measures against terrorism financing, (4) better secure and protect Europe's critical infrastructure and other potential terrorist targets, and (5) better coordinate national responses to terrorist attacks. The new measures don�t quite match our own post 9/11 counter-terrorism posture, but they demonstrate that, post Madrid and London bombings, Europe knows that the terrorism threat remains real and imminent. The proposed measures must now be reviewed, and will most likely be adopted, by the European Council during its December 15-16 session.

Few actual details concerning the new measures are yet available. However the general thrust is well known. Among the most important and controversial are stepped-up efforts to monitor and share information concerning individuals and entities whose activities promote terrorism indoctrination and recruitment. The EU Justice and Interior Ministers will be given new authority to disrupt the activities of networks and individuals that seek to draw people into terrorism. This includes increased monitoring, and possible disruption of, internets sites and postings which facilitate access to radical ideas and training associated with terrorism. Coordinated legislation is also being considered to prevent individuals from inciting and legitimizing violence and to inhibit individuals from traveling abroad to obtain terrorist training. This would include regulating and restricting travel to conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Special programs are also being developed to limit the activities of persons engaged in promoting radicalization in prisons, places of education or religious training, and worship. This will include closer monitoring of their visa applications, and entry into, and residence in, the European Union. At the same time steps will be taken by the EU Commission and member countries to address the motivating factors that have lent support to terrorist recruitment and to ensure that mainstream opinion prevails over extremism.

Additional details concerning the new strategy are expected to be released following approval by the European Council. In the meantime, information about the new strategy has already generated considerable debate over the appropriate balance between individual rights and common security. Several European Rights Organizations have already begun to challenge a number of the proposed measures. They argue that the new measures will have a major impact on fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and religion, and coveted rights of privacy. Some European groups have also expressed concern that the new measures will be used to profile and discriminate against religious Muslims, and that they might be used to expel undesirables without recourse to established legal protections.

TrackBack