You have commented 375 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Austria’s secret service proposal falls flat
2004-02-23
EU Justice and Interior Ministers rejected on Thursday an ambitious proposal by Austria calling for the creation of a European Intelligence Agency to reinforce the EU’s actions against terrorism and organised crime.
Don’t want to upset anyone, do we?
The proposal, set out in a discussion paper presented by Austria’s Interior Minister Ernst Strasser to his other EU counterparts on Thursday, was to set up a European intelligence service - but without police powers - with the aim of identifying at an early stage potential threats to the EU’s security.
Intel services should never, ever have police powers, as a matter of principle. I'm not sure I even like the idea of police agencies like the FBI having their own intel services. Those are two separate functions, both of them moderately dangerous to individual liberty on their own, that have to potential to become nightmares when combined.
The paper, presented as part of the EU’s Security Strategy adopted last year, highlights the need for a coordinated approach among EU states particularly after the recent series of letter bombs targeted at EU officials. =But there was an unenthusiastic response from Mr Strasser’s colleagues. Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell, whose country holds the EU presidency, described this document as "very interesting", but said that "there was a strong sense that before we create new agencies we have to learn to walk, before we can run".
Yes Minister, we wouldn’t want to be too brave, would we.
Germany was also sceptical about the proposal, as it felt it would duplicate work being done by the EU’s umbrella police organisation, Europol.
And you never know what else they might discover, do we?
Mr Strasser’s proposals also called for the creation of a European Security Monitor, a European Police Corps as well as having joint meetings between EU Justice and Home affairs ministers and foreign affairs ministers – which currently hold separate monthly meetings.
I suppose the good news is that they won’t have more layers of bureaucracies, doing less and less.
Posted by:tipper

#4  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-2-23 12:48:35 PM  

#3  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Anonymous   2004-2-23 11:18:13 AM  

#2  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-2-23 6:13:00 AM  

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Rafael   2004-2-23 2:25:36 AM  

00:00