EU terrorism group must not recreate US 'disaster industry'

5.24.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 11th Sep 2007

Speaking on the sixth anniversary of 9/11, leading member of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP has warned that the European Commission's intended group of private and public experts on security and counter-terrorism must not recreate the US development of a 'disaster industry'.

Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman, said:

"Critics of the US scene point to the spawning since 9/11 of a massive industry devoted to homeland security. Funded with huge injections of taxpayers money, they can acquire a vested interest in hyping up the threats in order to sell more technology."

"While I agree that public-private sector consultation and partnership are needed to respond to current security challenges, guidelines must be set for such cooperation, in particular maximum transparency."

"We must avoid in the EU the creation of new privacy-invading techniques without a serious examination of their necessity and proportionality. At present I am not optimistic that EU governments get this message.""