EU co-operation has limits, terror doesn’t

The scene was well set for Franco Frattini’s launch of his counter-terrorism proposals on Tuesday (6 November) with arrests earlier in the day in three member states of suspects linked to al-Qaeda.

The commissioner for justice, freedom and security hopes to get member states to sign up to a system of collecting information on airline passengers flying into the EU, a plan to set up a database, housed at Europol, to track the storage and use of explosives, and the criminalisation of incitement to commit terrorist acts, such as posting information on the internet.

At least some elements of the package will be received favourably: EU diplomats agree that a database on tracking explosives could prove useful, with the glaring example of stolen dynamite from a mine in Spain being used in the Madrid 2004 bombings.

Collecting information on airline passengers is also something which some member states will welcome, especially those states - the UK, France and Denmark - currently introducing systems of their own. Common standards and systems across the EU will make life easier for airlines and passengers, though Frattini plans to have national units set up in member states to collect the data rather than a central European collection point. "The alternative is a nightmare for people and carriers as you would have 27 different systems," said one diplomat.

The UK, which has been piloting its system of collecting airline passenger data, says it works well and proves that mass tracking of travellers is useful. Police arrested 1,200 people over a six-week period during the pilot project by looking at patterns of behaviour of travellers. For example, people consistently flying into the UK with children and on their outward journey flying alone were tracked for child trafficking. People flying on inward journeys with large amounts of luggage and coming back empty-handed caught the attention of customs officials.

But other member states are concerned about such a system and the cost it will entail. The Commission says it will cost an estimated 20 cents per traveller, which, set against the 600,000 passengers who, on a typical day, fly either into or from the EU, is a large amount of money, all of which will be borne by the member states.

Other states will, like the European Parliament, question the purpose of collecting the data. The UK example shows that the tracking of passengers and their behaviour may not stop at terrorism and other serious crimes, but could also involve customs violations or people avoiding terms of parole.

Stavros Lambrinidis, a Greek Socialist MEP, said: "The Commission has put forward no compelling case that a European PNR [passenger name records] would add in any meaningful way to the security of our borders, let alone that it would be ‘necessary,’ ‘proportionate’ and ‘appropriate in a democratic society’, which is the legal test that it has to meet."

The Commission can also expect opposition from some member states to its plan to criminalise ‘incitement to cause terrorist acts’ given the sensitivities around censorship and the notion of prosecuting an individual who has yet to commit a crime. "The concept of conspiracy to cause a crime is more difficult to prove and hard to prosecute in some of the 27 legal systems," said one diplomat.

But another potential problem for Frattini’s counter-terrorism package was highlighted by a report he also launched on Tuesday, which expressed concerns with how member states had implemented an earlier counter-terrorism law. Germany, Italy Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia and the UK have yet to even set down a common definition for terrorism and list terrorist offences as separate crimes. Member states, it seems, do not feel compelled to follow the Commission’s lead in an area where they have the last word. According to some experts, this is a mistake. "We already agree on the goals but Europe works best where there is a consensus," said Anthony Glees, a director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies.

Florian Geyer, a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, said: "It is useful to set up a framework and find common solutions as international terrorism won’t stop at borders."

The scene was well set for Franco Frattini’s launch of his counter-terrorism proposals on Tuesday (6 November) with arrests earlier in the day in three member states of suspects linked to al-Qaeda.