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EU: "Troublemakers" database still on the agenda: See the Outcomes of the Council of the European Union DAPIX Working Party: 11891/11

01 August 2011

EU: "Troublemakers" database still on the agenda: See the Outcomes of the Council of the European Union DAPIX Working Party: 11891/11 (p5, pdf). It will be recalled that the notion of creating an EU-wide database on "troublemakers" regarding public order was resurrected by the Swedish Presidency and put into the Stockholm Programme. These Outcome state that, unlike the usual EU process of "harmonising" existing national laws, on the issue (defined as "travelling violent offenders": "no legal definition of the term exists in any of the MS" so Commission is funding a study to come up with "at least three definitions of the term". It should be noted that discussions in Council Working Parties in 2008-2009 were not limited to "offenders" (ie: those convicted of a public order offence) but extended to "suspected" or potential "troublemakers".

See: The right to protest: “Troublemakers” and “travelling violent offenders [undefined] to be recorded on database and targeted by Tony Bunyan (pdf): "Since the onset of the EU’s response to the “war on terrorism” the prime targets have been Muslim and migrant communities together with refugees and asylum-seekers. Now there is an emerging picture across the EU that demonstrations and the democratic right to protest are among the next to be targeted to enforce “internal security."”

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