EU Commission – Matthias Monroy

EU Council and Commission: New roadmap for access to encryption

The Portuguese Presidency is calling for an EU-wide regulation on access to encrypted content by police and judiciary. This should also affect device manufacturers. Failure to comply could result in companies being banned from doing business in the EU.

The European Union is to adopt a legal framework on decryption in the near future so that authorities can access „lawfully relevant data“. This was written by the Portuguese EU Council Presidency in a Communication which also presents a roadmap for this purpose. An important milestone is a proposal for „way forward“, which the EU Commission will prepare by 2022.

The paper from Portugal has been coordinated with the previous German and the upcoming Slovenian EU Presidencies. The German Ministry of the Interior had taken a new initiative against end-to-end encryption at the start of this so-called trio presidency and adopted a Resolution and Conclusions on the implementation of decryption capabilities. It states that the member states themselves should decide on the methods they use. „EU Council and Commission: New roadmap for access to encryption“ weiterlesen

Strategic Compass: Secret services help determine EU’s military course

Member states‘ foreign and defence ministries are today discussing future European Union military capabilities, including how to respond to „cyber threats“. The fodder for this „Strategic Dialogue“ comes from the domestic and foreign intelligence services. MEPs are not allowed to see any of the top-secret documents.

The EU member states are working on new guidelines for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). These are to be summarised in a „Strategic Compass“, on the basis of which concrete measures and operations will then be decided. In this way, the governments are further expanding the initially rather defensive „EU Global Strategy“.

The Global Strategy adopted in 2016 envisages that the European Union will increase its arms expenditure and the number of its military missions. With the legally controversial Defence Fund and the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the proposals were implemented in a relatively short time. PESCO defines concrete measures for research and development of military systems, including „cyber defence and response“, „reconnaissance and space“ and drones at sea, on land and in the air. „Strategic Compass: Secret services help determine EU’s military course“ weiterlesen

Unmanned surveillance for Fortress Europe

The agencies EMSA and Frontex have spent more than €300 million on drone services since 2016. The Mediterranean in particular is becoming a testing track for further projects.

According to the study „Eurodrones Inc.“ presented by Ben Hayes, Chris Jones and Eric Töpfer for Statewatch seven years ago, the European Commission had already spent over €315 million at that time to investigate the use of drones for border surveillance. These efforts focused on capabilities of member states and their national contact centres for EUROSUR. The border surveillance system, managed by Frontex in Warsaw, became operational in 2014 – initially only in some EU Member States.

The Statewatch study also documented in detail the investments made by the Defence Agency (EDA) in European drone research up to 2014. More than €190 million in funding for drones on land, at sea and in the air has flowed since the EU military agency was founded. 39 projects researched technologies or standards to make the unmanned systems usable for civilian and military purposes. „Unmanned surveillance for Fortress Europe“ weiterlesen

EU project iBorderCtrl: Is the lie detector coming or not?

A document made legible again reveals how the beneficiaries of EU security research have been pushing for legislative changes for the introduction of prohibited technologies. The EU Commission is now funding a follow-up project with 8 million euros.

For three years, a consortium of European companies, institutes, universities and police forces had been working in an EU project on technologies to make the work of border and customs authorities easier. Several applications were combined in a „Intelligent Portable Border Control System“ (iBorderCtrl), which officers can access via a mobile device. The principle is that travellers feed as much personal data as possible into the system themselves before entering the country.

The platform then carries out a risk assessment and includes other data sources. An algorithm decides whether the person is classified as harmless. Then the border crossing at automatic control gates can take place quickly and smoothly. Those who are classified as risky by iBorderCtrl have to go through a „manual“ border control. „EU project iBorderCtrl: Is the lie detector coming or not?“ weiterlesen

German Social Democratic Party approves EU war drone

From 2030, European air forces want to have a drone for surveillance, interception or attack. The weapon system could be exported worldwide.

The German Bundestag has just given the go-ahead for the development and procurement of the Eurodrone. A so-called 25 million bill of the governing coalition of Christian and Social Democrats was voted on in the budget committee, the Defence Committee also gave its approval this morning. Their decision clears the way for the series production of a new unmanned system, which is to be delivered to the currently participating countries Germany, France, Italy and Spain from 2029.

The bill now passed for „industrial support for initial flight operations“ allows the Ministry of Defence to sign a contract with the German defence division of Airbus. The European company will be the prime contractor for the final assembly, working with Dassault Aviation (France) and Leonardo (Italy). The total project will cost at least 7.6 billion euros, of which Germany will account for exactly half. „German Social Democratic Party approves EU war drone“ weiterlesen

Frontex and the use of force

With the „Standing Corps“, the EU has an armed police force for the first time. The use of guns and other means of coercion is to be monitored by a „Committee on the Use of Force“, whose members are selected by the Frontex director. This reinforces the control deficit at the biggest EU agency.

Until now, Frontex relied exclusively on personnel and equipment sent from EU member states in its operations. The border agency had its own staff of up to 1,500 officers, but they were only in civilian clothes and mainly deployed at the headquarters in Warsaw. In the meantime, Frontex has become the largest agency in the Union in terms of staff and budget. The budget for this year is 544 million Euros, for the next seven years Frontex will receive 5.6 billion Euros.

Most of the money is currently spent on a new border force to implement the strengthened mandate of the border agency. The Frontex Regulation, renewed two years ago, provides for the creation of a „Standing Corps“ of 10,000 officers, divided into four categories for short- and long-term missions. 3,000 „Category 1“ officers will be assigned directly to the headquarters in Warsaw as so-called statutory personnel. They wear Frontex uniforms and are allowed to use other means of coercion in addition to pistols. This is the first time the European Union has had an armed police force. „Frontex and the use of force“ weiterlesen

Security research: EU Commission to fund technology to decrypt 5G connections

European police authorities are invited to submit proposals for the development of an interception platform. Authorities from third countries can also participate in the research project. Several German initiatives, including those of the domestic secret service, served as door openers.

The EU Commission announces new efforts to break end-to-end encrypted communications. This is according to the work programme of the Horizon 2020 research framework programme, which proposes numerous new projects in the area of „Civil Security for Society“ for the next two years. According to this, the Commission wants to spend five million euros on a platform for penetrating encrypted telephony.

The focus is on intercepting connections of the fifth mobile phone generation, which makes encrypted and anonymised connections technically possible. The project in the research line „Fighting crime and terrorism“ is therefore entitled „Lawful interception using new and emerging technologies (5G & beyond, quantum computing and encryption)“. „Security research: EU Commission to fund technology to decrypt 5G connections“ weiterlesen

New freight information system: EU Commission launches pre-declaration with risk analysis

For „safety and security“ purposes, imports into the European Union must be pre-declared in future. This advance data contains information on all persons, companies and means of transport involved in the sale, transport or shipment of the goods.

In two years at the latest, all persons wishing to enter the European Union will have to provide information on the purpose, duration and approximate course of their journey before they start. This „Travel Information and Authorisation System“ will be supplemented by an „Entry/Exit System“, which will document the actual border crossing. In the process, travellers must deposit their biometric data. For the risk analysis, the systems query relevant EU databases, an algorithm searches for anomalies in the data records.

Yesterday, the EU Commission introduced a similar advance procedure for customs with the „Import Control System 2“ (ICS2). In future, all goods to be imported into the EU customs territory must be declared in a cargo information system. It is intended to serve „security and safety“ and to help customs authorities „intervene at the most appropriate point in the supply chain“. Goods whose consignors or consignees have previously been conspicuous can then be checked more deeply, for example. „New freight information system: EU Commission launches pre-declaration with risk analysis“ weiterlesen

EU law: No one can stop Frontex

For the first time, the EU border agency commands and arms its own police force. Because its director is „fully independent“, this reinforces a glaring control deficit.

Frontex is an agency which was established by the Council of the European Union in 2004 with Regulation 2007/2004 without a parliamentary decision. It was only subsequently given parliamentary legitimacy within the framework of the Treaty of Lisbon by means of several amendments to the Regulation (first with the amending Regulation 1186/2011 on the basis of Article 77 (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).

Frontex’s governing body is the Executive Director, Fabrice Leggeri, and his now three deputies. Leggeri is, according to the current Regulation 2019/1896, „completely independent in the performance of his or her duties“ from the other EU institutions as well as from the member states. He may „neither seek nor take instructions from any government or from any other body“. This also applies to the agency as such, which „should be independent as regards operational and technical matters and have legal, administrative and financial autonomy“. „EU law: No one can stop Frontex“ weiterlesen

Proposals for new Europol Regulation

The EU police agency is to process more „big data“ and receive personal data from private companies. Preventive cooperation with third countries will be expanded, this also concerns secret services.

On 9 December last year, the EU Commission presented a proposal to extend Europol’s mandate. The police agency could therefore initiate investigations itself without waiting for an initiative from a member state. This should also be possible if only one country is involved. Up to now, Europol’s competence has been limited to cases involving two or more member states.

In addition to improved cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EuPPO) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), cooperation with third countries for the „prevention“ of criminal offences is to be expanded. „Proposals for new Europol Regulation“ weiterlesen