Be pure, be vigilant, behave

09 January 2007

A new European Commission scheme for EU laws to ban “inciting, aiding or abetting” of terrorism has got publishers and journalists worried about censorship, writes Stephen Gardner.  The idea was originally floated in the fevered days shortly after 9/11 when member state ministers issued a series of decisions on more police cooperation to combat terrorism. Now a survey questionnaire has landed on desks in Brussels, and it goes much further.  As well as inciting, aiding and abetting, it raises the possibility of new vaguely-defined offences such as 'glorification' or 'apology' for terrorism.  The questionnaire also posits the outlawing of 'indirect incitement' – even though it admits there is not even a legal definition of 'incitement' in the original ministerial decision! The commission says the questionnaire is part of a “general public consultation.”  Except that it's not.  It doesn't appear in the list of currently open consultations on the commission's justice and home affairs website, and has only been sent to a few carefully selected “stakeholders.” The exercise raises the question of the serious lack of transparency in EU discussions about policing and security.  Questions are being raised as to why EU laws against “incitement” of terrorism are needed, when countries like the UK have shown they are perfectly capable of introducing their own.  But Brussels is becoming a useful talking shop for governments who find it increasingly convenient to use EU channels to take controversial decisions that are difficult to force through national parliaments. In this connection, the commission is currently working its way through the Hague Programme Action Plan, a series of measures agreed by member states in 2005.  This long, long list includes such highlights as “widespread use of biometric identifiers” and sharing across the EU databases containing DNA profiles, fingerprints, and identity registry information. All of which, of course, makes the current exercise on glorification and incitement look like a drop in the ocean! A version of this article originally appeared in Private Eye.

 

< Prev		Next >