EU discusses anti-terror war
The EU’s ministers of justice, interior and public order will be meeting in Luxembourg today to discuss the principles of Security, Justice and Liberty, Justice Minister Michalis Stathopoulos said yesterday. We will take care so that whatever measures are taken should not be to the detriment of human rights, he added. Stathopoulos told a news conference that the European Commission had presented two drafts. The first concerns the idea of a Europe-wide arrest warrant and the second the definition of what constitutes terrorism. He said that it was possible that there might be a catalog of specific acts that would be defined as terrorism, such as an attack on a skyscraper, or a hijacking. Stathopoulos said he did not have any information on the existence of any list of Greeks suspected of terrorist activities. But he added: Greece’s rule of law does not forbid the naming of suspects on a list at the disposal of a service if there are serious indications that a criminal act has taken place and as long as this is ascertained by a judicial authority. Asked whether the EU countries will take strict new measures against terrorism on a Europe-wide level, Stathopoulos said All member states want to maintain the principles of justice because that is what European civilization is about. Achieving this might raise some differences but in the end consensus will be reached. Stathopoulos, who has borne the brunt of the government’s dispute with the Church of Greece in scrapping the mention of religion from identity cards, said that some reports that EU countries were thinking of placing religious affiliation on ID cards was just wishful thinking. I don’t think anyone in the EU wants this, he said. Similar attacks on other prosecutors have already been denounced by the Supreme Court and the prosecutors’ union.
