2020

Launched in 1999 and updated regularly, Statewatch News includes our own reporting and writing as well as articles, announcements, documents and analyses from elsewhere on civil liberties, EU policies and state practices. You can receive updates in your inbox by signing up to our mailing list, or use an RSS feed to get instant alerts.

26 February 2020

Ireland: Appeal in Dwyer case referred to EU Court of Justice

An Irish court has referred a series of questions to the European Court of Justice in a case in which a man convicted of murder is challenging the use of retained telecommunications data as evidence against him.

26 February 2020

Don’t Underestimate Slovakia’s Neo-Nazi Threat

A Slovakian political scientist warns that the country's far-right may make a breakthrough at the forthcoming election.

26 February 2020

Greece has to act regarding “unsustainable situation” for refugees on the islands

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says Greece and the EU must act.

26 February 2020

Polish rule of law crisis at point of no retur

Elena Crespi and Joshua Ratliff argue that a new set of reforms to Poland's judiciary is a further consolidation of power by the PiS party.

26 February 2020

Council of Europe human rights commissioner: Italy should suspend cooperation with the Libyan Coast Guard

No-one intercepted at sea should be returned to Libya, says the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner.

24 February 2020

Dodik Stops Bosnia From Cooperating With Frontex

A Bosnian Serb politician is refusing to approve the EU-Bosnia status agreement governing Frontex activities in Bosnia.

24 February 2020

New analysis: Fort Vert: Nature conservation as border regime in Calais

The construction of a nature reserve in Calais as a way to prevent the return of migrant encampments raises important questions over the political uses of the environment in Europe’s border regime.

24 February 2020

EU: "Data lakes", broken silos, changing the law: Counter-Terrorism Coordinator enthusiastic for Europol's new 'innovation hub'

The EU is in the process of setting up an 'innovation hub' at Europol in order to look at the development and use of new technologies for internal security. The Counter-Terrorism Coordinator (CTC), who initially proposed the idea, has circulated an enthuastic note to national delegations in Brussels setting out his vision for the unit. Meanwhile, minutes of a meeting between EU and Interpol officials suggest that Frontex operations could provide a "test lab" for new technologies.

24 February 2020

Back to Mauritania: Frontex repatriates migrants arriving on Canary Islands

Frontex deportation flights are heading from Spain to Mauritania. But many of the people on board are not Mauritanian citizens.

24 February 2020

EU summit collapses as leaders struggle to fill €75bn Brexit hole

"A summit of EU leaders seeking to fill a €75bn hole in the bloc’s budget left by Brexit dramatically collapsed after Angela Merkel led major contributors in rejecting a proposal that would have left them paying billions more."

24 February 2020

Leaked Reports Show EU Police Are Planning a Pan-European Network of Facial Recognition Databases

A report published by The Intercept looks at plans to expand the EU's 'Prüm' network of police databases to include facial recognition technology.

24 February 2020

Balkan spies 'feed' EU's police database via Czechs

"Secret services in at least one non-EU Western Balkan state are indirectly feeding the EU's police database with alerts on suspected foreign terrorist fighters, according to a confidential document seen by this website."

24 February 2020

EU backtracks on plans to ban facial recognition

Unlike a previously-leaked draft, the EU's white paper on artifical intelligence makes no mention of a possible moratorium on facial recognition technology.

24 February 2020

EU stops Operation Sophia and sends warships to stop Libya weapons trafficking

Operation Sophia is to be halted and replaced by a new military mission in the Mediterranean that will focus on enforcing the UN arms embargo on Libya.

24 February 2020

Hungary turns its back on Europe

A report looking at the Hungarian government's undermining of education, science, culture and the media since 2010.

 

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