 Human
rights do not apply
2nd April 2003 - Updated 8th December
2005
The
European Union is accumulating a vast range of powers that pose, as
human rights organisations such as Statewatch and Liberty have consistently
argued, a threat to civil liberties across the continent of Europe.
The
Democracy Movement has teamed up with Labour for Civil Liberties, Youth
for a Free Europe and The Ecologist magazine to highlight this threat
of the developing EU Police State.
A new range of literature has been published for distribution nation-wide
by supporters of the participating groups. Leaflets emblazoned 'Human
rights do not apply' expose five recent EU-inspired steps which are
building towards this authoritarian new EU criminal justice system -
this new government for all Europeans.
Among
issues raised by this campaign are:
- The creation
of an EU police force, Europol, whose agents have been granted
immunity from prosecution;
- The EU Arrest
Warrant, that will enable the authorities to have individuals
extradited from one member state to another without the need to
provide evidence against the accused;
- An EU directive
giving state agencies the right to by-pass data protection legislation
and to intercept all electronic traffic, including our e-mails,
without a court order;
- An EU-wide
definition of terrorism that is so broad that all acts of civil
disobedience could be so defined;
- Restrictions
on freedom of political expression, including article 108 of the
EU treaty that makes it an offence for an elected government,
MP or MEP to in any way try to influence the deliberations of
the European Central Bank, which manages the euro.
- Article 52
of the EU's inappropriately-named Charter of Fundamental Rights,
which gives Brussels the right to suspend any human right if deemed
in the 'general interest' of the Union.
These
and other measures, taken together with the completely undemocratic
structure of the EU, mean that the system of Brussels- based government
that is taking shape, represents a huge threat to the basic freedoms
of ordinary Europeans.
"The emerging
EU state is indeed different to the national state, not just because
it exercises cross-border powers, but rather because even traditional,
often ineffective, liberal democratic means of control, scrutiny
and accountability of state agencies and practices are not in
place, nor is there any political will to
introduce them"
Tony Bunyan,
director of human rights group Statewatch
Across
Europe, groups and individuals are waking up to the reality of the authoritarian
system the political elite has been quietly working towards. It's time
for ordinary Europeans who value democracy and civil liberties - the
real pro-Europeans - to take action against this sinister centralisation
of power before its too late.
LATEST NEWS...
-
Blair
challenged to resist EU criminal sanctions
14th
September 2005: updated 8th December 2005
In response to the news that the EU has been given
sweeping powers to demand member countries impose criminal sanctions
in relation to EU rules, DM campaign director Marc Glendening has
written to Tony Blair asking for an undertaking that the government
will refuse to impose any criminal sanctions the EU orders, given
that the government opposed the EU being given this power.
READ MORE...
- Judges
express concern over EU human rights losses
EUobserver,
4th October 2004
- EU
bureaucrats 'silenced' reporter in fraud scandal
The
Times, 19th July 2004
- EU
anti-fraud office accused of abusing power
Daily Telegraph,
8th July 2004
- Daily
Telegraph letters: Don't lose your identity
by Marc Glendening - Campaign Director, Democracy Movement.
The Daily Telegraph, 6th April 2004
- Reporter
following trail of corruption in EU arrested
The Daily Telegraph, 20th March 2004
-
Government paves way for EU ID cards
Tribune magazine, 1st August 2003
- Joint
lobby of Downing Street on EU Arrest Warrant
DM Action Report:
2nd December 2002
- Fight
the future for human rights
by Marc Glendening, DM Campaign Director - Tribune magazine,
26-07-02
- 'More
power to Europol'
EUobserver, 13th June 2002
- EU
gives go-ahead for increased state surveillance
DM report - 13th June 2002
- Anti-terrorist
or anti-democracy?
DM Article: May 2002
- The
New Euro-Corporatism
by Marc Glendening, DM Campaign Director, April 2002
- 'Police
State'
The Spectator, 5th January 2002
- 'European
justice demands the glory of British liberty'
The Guardian, 5th February 2002
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