The politicians criticised the EU's executive arm the European
Commission for permitting too much information to be gathered and
shared too widely in the name of anti-terrorism. It said that
several EU systems and the linking of them could lead to racial and
ethnic profiling to identify likely suspects, which it said should
be avoided.
The resolution on terrorism was passed by a small majority with
359 votes in favour, 293 against and 38 abstentions. It called for
the Commission to carry out an evaluation of its policies in the
light of the desired balance between security and human rights.
The Parliament vowed to conduct assessments of two policies of
Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini: his plan to
ban bomb-making instructions from the internet and his proposals
for the passenger name records (PNR) system which passes EU airline
passenger details to US authorities. These two plans will be
analysed "on evidence based argumentation", the MEPs said.
The MEPs called for tighter restrictions on the sharing of
intelligence and on actions taken as a result of it. "Further rules
are needed to ensure the necessary democratic scrutiny and
parliamentary control over their activities," said a Parliament
statement.
The resolution said that anti-terror laws had serious
consequences. "Governments and EU institutions have often responded
to terrorist attacks by adopting laws that have not been
sufficiently discussed and some times in violation of basic human
rights such as right to privacy or to a fair trial," it said.
