The erosion of rights and civil liberties in the name of fighting terror .

Reviews 'Arming Big Brother' report
The research sector is booming military after September 11, the EU and the corporate lobbyists seeking to influence the arms (and succeed) the decision-making process. An essay by Ben Hayes reconstructs the dynamics in progress

Europe does not have an army, and is often criticized for this. A person who aspires to be a global one can not fail to bring their own military structure.

Reviews 'Arming Big Brother' report
The research sector is booming military after September 11, the EU and the corporate lobbyists seeking to influence the arms (and succeed) the decision-making process. An essay by Ben Hayes reconstructs the dynamics in progress

Europe does not have an army, and is often criticized for this. A person who aspires to be a global one can not fail to bring their own military structure. Despite this "gap", the weight of the military sector within the EU is continuing to expand and the approach that the European Commission with regard to this issue threatens to overshadow respect for human rights and democracy and distort the historical balance between internal security and external policies of law enforcement. Indeed, even after September 11, the European Union has become increasingly tied to extremism of a market - the weapons - which disguises behind the need to combat terrorism a monstrous trend to profit. This is, in the view pitted by Ben Hayes, Statewatch researcher, an organization committed to the defense of civil rights. Some time ago Hayes has published an essay - the Arming Big Brother: The EU's Security Research Programme - whose main thesis is to demonstrate, step by step, the erosion of rights and civil liberties in the name of fighting terror .

Hayes, to comfort his argument, he cites numbers and papers. Over the past few years, the number of lobbyists in Brussels pledged military has grown exponentially, reaching 15 thousand share. The military strategy of the corporation, including the Italian Finmeccanica, is simple: to persuade the EU to shell out money for the defense. It is also simple theorem which lobbyists - says Hayes - seek to accomplish their goal. It is in fact highlight the commitment that puts Washington in the field of military research and compare it with that much less full-bodied EU. This policy has borne fruit. In 2003, the European Commission has established the Security Research Programme, preceded by the appointment of a Group of Eminent Persons (Group of personalities), composed of officials from the EU and the boss of the military. According to Hayes, it was a point of no return. The researcher says that the risk is that the policy and the development of democracy give way to the "military industrial complex" denounced by former U.S. President Ike Eisenhower at the end of his second term on January 17, 1961.