Arming Big Brother
The EU's Security Research Programme
This Statewatch-TNI report examines the development of the security-industrial complex in Europe and in particular the development of the EU Security Research Programme (ESRP). Spawned by the military-industrial complex, the security-industrial complex has developed as the traditional boundaries between external security (military) and internal security (security services) and law enforcement (policing) have eroded. With the global market for technologies of repression more lucrative than ever in the wake of 11 September 2001, it is on a healthy expansion course.
The story of the EU Security Research Programme is one of “Big Brother” meets market fundamentalism.
It was personified by the establishment in 2003 of a “Group of Personalities” (GoP)
comprised of EU officials and Europe’s biggest arms and IT companies. The GoP’s concern was a
simple one: European multinationals are losing out to their US competitors because the US government
is providing them with a billion dollars a year for security research – it recommended the
EU match this level of funding to ensure a “level playing field”. The European Commission has
obliged with a “preparatory” budget for security research 2004-6, with the full ESRP to begin in
2007, and appointed an EU Security Research Advisory Board to oversee the programme. This
makes permanent the GoP and gives profit-making corporations an official status in the EU, shaping
not just security research but security policy.
Read the report [pdf file 526kb]
