Terror infiltrators could win EU residency

By David Cronin

Date: 03/11/05

An EU-wide scheme for granting residence permits to foreigners who infiltrate terrorist organisations based in the member states is being considered at the Council of Ministers.

The idea is raised in a new paper by Britain's EU presidency on how the fight against terrorism can be improved following the 7 July bombings in London. It was drafted following discussions between the UK and other EU governments.

Italy recommended that there should be greater co-operation between national authorities on witness protection programmes, in which informers in terrorist or other criminal groups would provide intelligence to police in return for reductions in prison terms.

The Italians have pointed out that practices on witness protection in EU states vary. The European Commission has been examining whether a common approach to the issue can be devised across the Union. The Italians suggested that the Commission should study the issue of granting residence permits to terrorist informers and present a proposal on the matter by July 2006.

Before the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, many witness protection schemes in Europe were mainly used for fighting organised crime but the Italians believe greater use of these should now be made in the fight against terrorism.

Italy is one of the EU countries with most experience of witness protection. A system for shielding Mafia informers or 'pentiti' is enshrined in national law. Although anti-Mafia magistrates have argued the scheme is necessary, the protection offered has proven controversial.

Among those who have been given police bodyguards and reduced sentences are Enzo Brusca, a Mafioso convicted of dissolving the body of an 11-year-old in a vat of acid, and Salvatore Cancemi, one of those involved in murdering Judge Giovanni Falcone.

The paper also commits the British presidency to presenting ideas on how an EU approach can be devised to expelling terrorist suspects. The UK states that there are "no common EU-wide arrangements in place for exchanging basic, factual information on terrorist-related or wider criminal deportations and expulsions".

Germany has mooted setting up a system within Europe that would be similar to the US VISIT scheme, under which those arriving in America's airports systematically have their fingerprints taken.

German diplomats complain that it is difficult to obtain reliable estimates on how many people live illegally within the 13-country Schengen area.

Although checks are undertaken of people entering and leaving the Schengen zone, the Germans say that border and police authorities from different countries have "no way of matching up information".

As a result, the Germans propose that the Commission undertake a feasibility study by December 2006 on creating a new system of border checks. They argue that the system should be designed to avoid "excessive delays" for travellers at airports or ferry terminals and that the idea of storing biometric indicators like fingerprints or facial scans in a central database should be explored.

Article reports on a number of initiatives by different EU Member States which aim at making the fight against terrorim more efficient. Among the plans were an EU-wide scheme for granting residence permits to foreigners who infiltrate terrorist organisations based in the Member States, the EU-wide co-ordination of witness protection programmes and the storing of biometric indicators as part of a new system of border checks.