Reports Scrutinise EU Counter-terrorism Law & Policy
EU security and counter-terrorism initiatives, including the European Arrest Warrant,counter-terrorist finance law and policy, and the use of border control databases and systems of information exchange, are necessary corollaries of the free movement of persons across the EU - at least in the eyes of those who operate the systems.
A research team led by Dr Cian Murphy at King's College London's Dickson Poon School of Law, working as part of the SECILE Research Consortium, today publishes three reports on the perspectives of operational actors on impact,effectiveness and legitimacy of these measures.The reports draw their finding from three focus groups with over 25 participants including prosecutors,governmental officials, military and civilian law enforcement operatives, and others with empirical experience of the EU measures.
- European Arrest Warrant (Read Report)
The participants in the European Arrest Warrant focus group agreed that, although the measure had been brought into law in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, its use goes far beyond counter-terrorism. The need for safeguards for those subject to the EAW system -and for more'transnational procedure' in the operation of the system - was the subject of extensive debate.
- Border Controls (Read Report)
The border controls participants were cautious about over-reliance on databases and systems of information exchange for counter-terrorism. The participants, who were drawn from military and civilian law enforcement, set out the need for training for operatives as well as the importance of scrutiny of the systems by the public and civil society.
- Counter-terrorist Finance (Read Report)
The law and policy on counter-terrorist finance was the subject of a lively discussion amongst eleven current and former counter-terrorist finance operatives. There was a range of views in particular about the role that 'Financial Intelligence Units' play in the provision of security and the regulation of the financial system. Although some participants were of the view that greater transparency is necessary others saw the Units as a form of 'secret financial service'.
Dr Murphy said: “The focus groups, and the reports that the research team publishes today, raise significant questions about the role of the EU in the provision of security for its citizens, the challenges to criminal justice co-operation on the basis of mutual trust, and the need for greater accountability mechanisms in EU law and policy to improve legitimacy of EU action. These questions are the subject of ongoing research here at King’s Centre of European Law and by colleagues across the Consortium.”
Dr Murphy led the team which also included research associate Dr Aldo Zammit Borda and research assistant Ms Lucy Hoyte. The King's work on operational perspectives sits alongside research undertaken by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, and the University of Durham, on civil society and policy-maker perspectives respectively.