WRITTEN QUESTION E-3597/01

by Ilka Schröder (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(9 January 2002)

Subject: So-called troublemaker letters from the police to persons deemed likely to take part in protests against the Laeken Summit

According to media reports, e.g. in the issue of the Berliner Zeitung of 10 December 2001, during the first half of December, in the run-up to the Laeken Summit, persons in a number of German Länder deemed likely to take part in protests against the summit were warned not to leave the country or even prevented from so doing. For example, in Baden-Württemburg individuals were banned from leaving the country and required to report to the police, and in Berlin passports and identity cards were withdrawn.

In Göttingen, the police sent persons presumed to be anti-EU protesters a document headed troublemaker letter. The letter urges the recipient not to take part in demonstration-like events during the period from 13 to 15 December 2001, stating that only in this way could the person concerned avoid police measures in the context of risk prevention (up to and including a ban on crossing into Belgium from Germany) or criminal proceedings in response to offences committed during such events. The Göttingen police authority referred to a file on violent offenders, set up in November 2000, as the basis for the measures.

In the light of previous answers to Members' questions, it should be pointed out that the protests were to take place in connection with an EU Summit. Since there is no such thing as a European police force, the relevant police measures are carried out by national or regional forces.

Should the Council not feel responsible for the issues raised below, could it please give reasons in each case:

- Is the Council aware of the legal basis which the German authorities have used in setting up this file which clearly includes details of persons who must be regarded as innocent of any offence?

- What view does the Council take of this restriction on individuals' fundamental rights, which represents, for example, a breach of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Articles 11 and 12 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union?

- This practice prevents people from exercising their fundamental rights as European citizens. What steps does the Council plan to take in order to put a stop to this practice?

Reply

(18 March 2002)

The Honourable Member of the European Parliament is informed that it is not for the Council to take a position in respect to individual measures taken by the law enforcement authorities in the Member States. The Council is equally not in a position to determine on which national legal rules Member States have based certain law enforcement measures.

The provisions of the Human Right instruments referred to in the question recognise the possibility of applying restrictions to the exercise of the freedom of expression and of assembly and association, as presented by law and necessary in a democratic society in the interests of, inter alia, the prevention of disorder and crime. Whether the application by Member State of such restrictions in individual cases is justified, is not for the Council to asses.