2.
s8(4) is not strictly necessary for the safeguarding of democratic
institutions
205.
On 12 March 2014 the European Parliament issued a “Resolution on the
US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member
States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental rights and on
transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs”. The resolution
observed that the Snowden revelations have “caused numerous concerns
within the EU”, including, inter alia:
- the possibility of these mass surveillance operations being used
for reasons other than national security and the fight against
terrorism in the strict sense, for example economic and industrial
espionage or profiling on political grounds;
- the undermining of press freedom and of communications of
members of professions with a confidentiality privilege, including
lawyers and doctors; [and]
…
- the increasingly blurred boundaries between law enforcement and
intelligence activities, leading to every citizen being treated as a
suspect and being subject to surveillance.125
206.
The
European
“[c]onsider[ation]
Parliament’s
that
data
“Main
collection
Findings”
of
such
included
magnitude
the
leaves
considerable doubts as to whether these actions are guided only by the fight
against terrorism, since it involves the collection of all possible data of all
citizens” and “points, therefore, to the possible existence of other purposes
including
political
and
economic
espionage,
which
need
to
be
comprehensively dispelled”.126
European Parliament, Resolution on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies
in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental rights and on
transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs, 12 Mar. 2014, para F (“EU Parliament
Resolution”).
126 EU Parliament Resolution, para 7.
125
81