The fight against terrorism. The lists and the gaps

Abstract

Although not a new issue, the fight against terrorism did not rise to the top of the agenda of the European Union (EU) and its Member States until after September 11. Interesting in this context is the phenomenon of blacklisting. Persons, organizations and ‘entities’ were put on several international lists for the main purpose of freezing their financial assets and prosecuting them. At the start of the chain are the lists compiled by the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) which are followed by those of the European Union. The Member States have an obligation to comply with these UN and EU measures at national level and to implement them against the persons listed. The position of individuals who are so unfortunate as to have been named and therefore marked as terrorists is weak, especially when they appear on EU lists. Weak, in the first place, due to a lack of delisting procedures which could lead to the removal of one’s name from the list in case it becomes clear that an error has been made. Weak, in the second place, due to the particular system of division of competences between the first, second and third pillar laid down in the legislative instruments used by the EU Council. And weak, finally, due to the mechanisms of judicial protection, both at national and European level, which seem to fail whenever individuals in some way challenge measures adopted against them as a result of the appearance of their name on a list or because of being named in the first place.