Extract from below
"Open Europe Analyst Stephen Booth said:
“Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty will see powers over justice and home affairs policy
almost completely shifted to the EU level. How can citizens expect their fundamental
rights to liberty and independence from the state to be protected by unaccountable
institutions which have a vested interest in creating more laws?"
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/howtheeuiswatchingyou.pdf
How the EU is watching you:
The rise of Europe’s surveillance state
1
How the EU is watching you: the rise of Europe’s surveillance
state
Contents Page
Press release 3
1. Executive Summary 5
2. Introduction 14
3. The state of play: Measures already agreed or in force 19
3.1. The mass collection and storage of citizens’
communications data 19
3.2. Sharing DNA and fingerprint data across the EU 20
3.3. A blueprint for an EU-wide ID card? 23
3.4. Developing mass surveillance technologies with taxpayers’
money 23
3.5. Granting authorities and the public access to information
on people’s health 24
3.6. Concluding international agreements without the approval
of national parliaments 25
4. What to expect next: Pending proposals 27
4.1. A new EU-five year strategy for justice and home affairs 27
4.1.1. Collecting and sharing surveillance data 28
4.1.2. Sharing sensitive personal data collected from travel
operators 29
4.1.3. The use of investigative techniques including remote
computer searches 30
2
4.1.4. Creation of a committee on EU “internal security” 31
4.1.5. Allowing people to be tried in UK courts for offences
that aren’t crimes in the UK 32
4.1.6. A target to train a third of member states’ police officers 33
4.1.7. A central EU database including the “largest fingerprint
system in the world” 34
4.1.8. A three-fold increase in extradition under the EU’s arrest
warrant 35
4.1.9. Extending ‘mutual recognition’ in civil and criminal matters 37
4.1.10. Joint EU intelligence under the guise of SitCen 38
4.2.1. EU laws on citizens’ right to internet access 39
4.2.2. Access to other member states’ national tax databases 39
26 October 2009
Open Europe
7 Tufton Street
London
SW1P 3QN
Tel: 0207 197 2333
Fax: 0207 197 2307
www.openeurope.org.uk
3
How the EU is watching you: the rise of Europe’s surveillance state
As ratification of the EU Lisbon Treaty draws closer, new research from Open Europe
warns that the Treaty will help accelerate moves towards an EU surveillance state.
The Lisbon Treaty marks a significant shift of power from national governments to the
EU in the field of justice and home affairs. It will lead to an increase in the volume
and scope of EU legislation, which is already having a profound impact on EU
citizens’ civil liberties and privacy.
As well as measures on asylum and immigration policy, EU ministers and the
European Commission are currently negotiating a raft of controversial new proposals,
which are set to radically increase the EU’s role in policing, criminal, and security
matters. EU leaders hope to reach formal agreement on many controversial new
initiatives by the end of the year.
They include: a target to train a third of all police officers across the EU in a “common
culture” of policing; the mass collection and sharing of personal data including DNA
records into an EU-wide database; controversial surveillance techniques including
‘cyber patrols’; the creation of a fledgling ‘EU Home Office’ with powers to decide on
cooperation on police, border, immigration and criminal justice issues; an EU “master
plan” on information exchange; the transfer of criminal proceedings among EU
member states; a three-fold increase in the number of controversial EU arrest
warrants; access to other member states’ national tax databases; and EU laws on
citizens’ right to internet access, among many other things.
However, despite these significant plans, the current Swedish EU Presidency has
said that, with the Lisbon Treaty nearly in place, the current proposals are too
“modest” and that the EU should increase its “level of ambition” in the field of justice
and home affairs policy.
Under Lisbon, national governments will lose their veto power to block legislation in
the field of justice and home affairs, while the European Commission will be given
greater power to draw up new laws, and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will be
responsible for enforcing them.
The UK Government’s claim that under Lisbon the UK will maintain independence
and can ‘pick and choose’ which justice and home affairs policies it opts into is a
smokescreen. In practice, the UK has often been a key driver of policy, and has in
some instances even exported domestic initiatives to the rest of the EU, particularly
those that increase the power of the state over the individual. The most prominent
examples of where the UK has pushed the agenda include the Data Retention
Directive, the use of Passenger Name Records collected by travel companies and
the European Arrest Warrant.
This method of ‘exporting’ UK initiatives to the EU is akin to policy making via the
back door, circumventing adequate democratic controls.
Open Europe Analyst Stephen Booth said:
“Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty will see powers over justice and home affairs policy
almost completely shifted to the EU level. How can citizens expect their fundamental
rights to liberty and independence from the state to be protected by unaccountable
institutions which have a vested interest in creating more laws?”
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/howtheeuiswatchingyou.pdf
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