INTELLIGENCE COOPERATION: THE GERMAN-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT AND ITS EUROPEAN IMPLICATIONS
According to off the record information from German government officials Germany has reached agreement with the Republic of Russia on intelligence cooperation, in particular in the fields of the combat against terrorism and international drug traficking and international "organized crime". Liaison offices of the intelligence services have been set up in the embassies of the two countries in Bonn, respectively Moscow.
The surprising agreement constitutes the most recent example for the ongoing gradual extension of police and intelligence cooperation based on bilateral intergovernmental agreements rather than Community legislation.
The secretary of state in charge of coordinating the various German intelligence services, Mr. Schmidbauer, obtained the agreement "some time ago". The agreement also includes the combat against the illegal transfer of technology.
Under the keyword "combat against terrorism" the German side hopes to receive information and documents on the remains of the "Red Army Faction" (Baader-Meinhoff group) and its alleged links with the former East German state security service, the Stasi.
On their part, the Russians declared that they were to cease "aggressive intelligence" on German soil in the near future.
Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 3.10.92Comment
The German-Russian agreement is further evidence for the efforts of European police and intelligence cercles to set up efficient structures of cooperation as soon as possible, without waiting for the lengthy legal and institutional harmonization in the framework of the European Community which alone would provide democratic and constitutional legitimacy for a common European policy of policing and intelligence.
German security experts have since long ago favored "pragmatical" and "ad hoc" tactics in realizing their dream of a common European space of policing and intelligence. The main line seems to be: "Just introduce a practice and don't worry. Sooner or later, it will be legalized."
In this view, any bi- or multilateral agreement in the sphere of internal security is seen as a step in the right direction. As the "security expert" and former president of the police of the German Land of Baden-Württemberg, Alfred Stümper puts it: "No need to fear separate or 'island' solutions. Whenever one can place a foot somewhere, one should do it."
The German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) has obviously lived up to this advice. The setting up of a liaison office in Moscow is only the most recent achievement. On the base of bilateral agreements the BKA has earlier sent security liaison officers to various EC States and to non-EC countries such as Turkey, Brazil and Argentina (all of whom are known for bad human rights records).
Other European governments have followed the German example. Thus, Sweden has stationed "police attachés" in three Arab countries (among them Syria) and intends to delegate officers to Estonia and Portugal (see FECL No.9, p.3) and Spain has deployed Guardia Civil officers in Morocco (see article in this FECL).
The lack of a common democratic institutional framework for the development of a European policy in areas such as justice, crime prevention, police and state security not only threatens to lead to the boundless spreading of the most various forms of "ad hoc", i.e. uncontrolable, policing practices but also further undermines a vital safeguard of constitutional democracy - the strict separation of police and intelligence activities.
As a matter of fact, a number of states are gradually introducing new legislation and practices encroaching on this separation of roles under the popular pretext of combatting terrorism, drug related and "organized" crime (see FECL No.4, p.3; FECL No.6, p.8). Only few seem to be aware of the fact that such pro-active policing policies pose a deadly threat to fundamental civil rights.
Nicholas Busch