Autor: Matthias Monroy

„In fact, Frontex is now flying for the Libyan coastguard“

Frontex gets more resources and powers. Setting the course before elections to the EU Parliament. A conversation with Matthias Monroy

The EU wants to perfect the moat of its Fortress Europe and transform the European Agency for Border and Coast Guard (EBCG), or Frontex for short, into a border police force. What are the concrete plans?

First of all, there is the establishment of a force of 10,000 troops to prevent border crossings at the external borders or to carry out deportations. This is something completely new, because so far the Border Agency only has civilian staff. This „Standing Corps“ will be set up gradually. By 2021 5,000 officials are to be recruited, by 2024 7,000. They will report directly to the Warsaw Headquarters. In addition, the Member States are to send their own national officials to the „Standing Corps“ for two years. „„In fact, Frontex is now flying for the Libyan coastguard““ weiterlesen

EU Military in the Mediterranean: Mission accomplished

EUNAVFOR MED and Frontex now fly for Libyan Coast Guard

The European Union only wants to observe sea rescue operations off Libya from the air and no longer send its own ships. The warships involved in the EUNAVFOR MED military mission are therefore being withdrawn, while the operation is „strengthening surveillance by air assets“. With this decision, the EU Member States have temporarily settled a dispute with the government in Rome. Italy’s Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini does not want EUNAVFOR MED to let rescued persons come to Italy. The head of Lega is calling for their disembarkation in all the other states that take part in the mission with planes, ships or submarines. Since EUNAVFOR MED was founded, its ships have taken around 49,000 people on board. Almost all were disembarked in Italian ports. „EU Military in the Mediterranean: Mission accomplished“ weiterlesen

Interpol and Europol extend facial recognition

The two police organisations are using new capabilities to search biometric images. Investigators can mark persons or things and match them with other files. At the G20 summit, the Hamburg state data protection commissioner criticised this procedure.

In the „INTERPOL 2020“ project, the international police organisation is expanding its facial recognition capabilities. After a test run, the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon/France set up a new biometric database two years ago. According to information from the German Ministry of the Interior last October, the database contains more than 120,000 data records with photographs. The file can be searched with the „MorphoFace Investigate“ software, which has been used by Interpol for years to investigate child pornography. „Interpol and Europol extend facial recognition“ weiterlesen

EU intelligence centre facing new challenges

The European Union installs a „Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox“, in which secret services should play a bigger role. Among other things, the member states want to find a common diplomatic response to „malicious cyber activities“ as quickly as possible. The new tasks of the Intelligence Situation Centre are highly controversial.

The European Union has no competence to coordinate secret services. Nevertheless, there is a network for them in Brussels. The EU Intelligence Analysis Centre (INTCEN) employs around 100 staff. They are not allowed to conduct their own spying or use informerants. Instead, they process „finished intelligence“ material from the Member States. INTCEN’s products include „intelligence assessments“, „strategic assessments“ and „special reports and briefings“. „EU intelligence centre facing new challenges“ weiterlesen

Border controls in Bavaria and Austria: Police to extract mobile phones

With the takeover of the sovereign border security, the Free State is also using new technology. The extraction of telephones is supposed to help in the detection of „smuggler networks“. Another application is „contactless identity verification“. The projects are perfecting the expansion of biometric EU databases.

Two years ago, the Bundestag passed the „law for better enforcement of the obligation to leave the country“. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) may now search mobile phones and other electronic devices of refugees in order to process their asylum applications. The information should help to determine their origin. The authorities evaluate, for example, the country codes of called telephone numbers and contacts and the domain endings of called websites. Geodata and the language used in text messages are also analysed. This practice could now be extended to border controls. „Border controls in Bavaria and Austria: Police to extract mobile phones“ weiterlesen

Significantly more „Silent SMS“ with German police authorities

Police in Germany are a matter for the federal states, this also applies to the surveillance of telecommunications. In Schleswig-Holstein alone, local police departments send as many „Silent SMS“ as the Federal Police. A decision of the Federal Court of Justice should contain this practice, but a change is hardly recognizable.

German authorities are increasingly using mobile phones as a tracking device. This results from the semi-annual overview recently published by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in response to a parliamentary question. According to the report, the Federal Police sent 50,654 „Silent SMS“ in the second half of the year, compared with 38,990 in the previous half-year. Only the figures for the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) show a decrease. In the second half of the year, the authority sent 21,337 „Silent SMS“, about 10,000 fewer than previous. „Significantly more „Silent SMS“ with German police authorities“ weiterlesen