Do we feel so vulnerable to the risk of radical Islam taking over our liberal society that the European Commission needs a unit to develop action against terrorist infiltration in our beloved charities?
Today the first anniversary of the massacre in Norway; yesterday the shooting at the screening of the last Batman film in Denver; few days before HSBC CEO apologising in front of the US Congress for billions in money laundering. None of them has anything to do with Islam but our Western fellows.
I doubt I can answer the question in this blog but I can report on the action taken by the EU to alleged infiltration of terrorism in civil society.
On Friday I took part in a roundtable discussion organised by LSE to comment on a proposal for a Civil Society Observatory. The proposal has been commissioned to the university team by the European Commission’s unit in charge of anti-terrorism.
It was just a small group but pretty competent in civil society and security: Prof Mary Kaldor, Charity Commission, Oxfam UK, State Watch and James from Humanitarian Forum.
Behind the innocent title lies quite a different story. In a nutshell, the Commission is concerned about potential infiltrations in charities and came out with the nice idea of an Observatory to coat the pill. Charities and NGOs are expected to voluntarly subscribe for the Observatory and even fund it in the long run so they Commission will be able to control their operations keeping them clean.
In my view there is no chance that this proposal will ever take life as it’s unnecessary, unrealistic and all the umbrellas in Brussels would make such a fuss that Commission would have to withdraw the proposal as it did in 2005 as there is no evidence and it would increase costs without any benefit.
Guys we’re not in 2001 anymore. In any case if there is patrolling to provide it should target infiltration by criminal groups as they are already well-documented in Eastern Europe, especially in the Balkans.
I keep an eye on how the Commission proceeds and won’t let the terrorist agenda take over civil society.
As I left behind to ultimate the entry I doubt I will be able to provide more details. But contact LSE or the European Commission if you want to know more: Iavor Rangelov at LSE and/or Ingo Weustenfeld at the Commission
