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EU: Definition of "potential terrorists" opens door to broad information-sharing

EU member states can now collect and share information on “potential terrorists”. This category is based on a new informal definition that was agreed with no democratic scrutiny. While claiming to target those who may engage in political violence, there is potential for far broader application.

These plans build upon a recent “shared understanding” of who EU authorities consider a "potential terrorist or violent extremist threat,” a concept encapsulated in the document by the German term Gefährder. This requires “objective, verifiable information” leading to a belief that the individual in question “will in the future commit, facilitate, support or engage in terrorist or violent extremist offences.” A series of “indicative auxiliary criteria”. The inclusion of peaceful but disruptive groups in the paper may legitimate further police surveillance and infiltration, legal harassment and government crackdowns – a problem identified as “a major threat to human rights and democracy” by a UN Special Rapporteur.

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