European Liberal Democrats denounce European Big Brother

2.41.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 1st Jul 2008

During yesterday's seminar "Freedom and security in the integrated management of the European Union's borders" with national MPs, European Liberal Democrats (ALDE) urged the European Commission to come up with a coherent masterplan to protect European citizens against terrorism and illegal immigration. According to ALDE the current plans are lacking coherence and are limiting civil liberties in a disproportionate way.

ALDE members also cautioned their national counterparts to better control the decisions taken by their governments in the EU. They criticized particularly the increasing tendency of Member States to build databases and use data mining and 'profiling' to keep an eye on their citizens.

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said: "Europe's rapidly-expanding border control databases are being accessed as a source of information for police and intelligence agencies as well as immigration control. But the techniques of data mining and 'profiling' being used carry severe dangers for individuals who are picked out because their behaviour, or even worse their appearance, fits a stereotype of what an illegal immigrant, terrorist or criminal is like. Strict safeguards are needed to prevent people, especially from minority communities, bearing the risk of discrimination or unfair branding as suspects."

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (VVD, Netherlands) added: "The European Parliament has repeatedly urged the European Commission and the Member States to be more careful with personal data. We should not pile up personal data by introducing various systems of data collection. Instead we should use the current data in a more intelligent way. Therefore I ask the Commission to come up with a coherent masterplan for the fight against terrorism and illegal immigration."