*Interesting new galaxy of misbehaviors here. "Travelling abroad for terrorist purposes."
*Actually, your best bet for genuinely encouraging "terrorist purposes" is buying gasoline. You're unlikely to be indicted for that because cops, lawyers and legislators all do plenty of it. It's not that there aren't plenty of dangerous global guerrillas, because there are, but I'm pretty sure that this initiative will devolve really quickly into a new defacto set of migrant barriers. If you're Ukrainian and want to visit Russia? "Terrorist purposes!" If you're Russian and want to meet your Turkish girlfriend on the beach? "Terrorist purposes!" If you're Syrian, you're sick of Europe and you want to go home? Heaven help you.
By Ryan Heath | Tips to rheath@politico.eu | To read on your desktop click here
"EXCLUSIVE — FIGHTING ISIL STARTS AT HOME: The European Commission will move today, in a proposed directive presented by First Vice President Frans Timmermans, to define foreign fighters as people who travel abroad for terrorist purposes. The directive would effectively upgrade and expand a current “Council Framework Decision” on combatting terrorism. If agreed by national governments, changing this decision into directive form would allow the Commission to wield a bigger stick: National governments could be taken to court if they did not enforce it.
"Other main elements of the directive are:
– The criminalization of the funding, organization and facilitation of terror-related travel, including through support such as providing firearms, transport or shelter to those involved in terrorism
– The criminalization of undertaking training for terrorist purposes (meaning one does not have to undertake a terrorist act to be convicted of terrorist offenses)
– Strengthening provisions against spreading of terrorist propaganda, including online (a move certain to raise questions about where appropriate lines can be drawn without implementing censorship)
"The proposal would implement into EU law:
– The provisions of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2178(2014) on Foreign Terrorist Fighters
– The recently adopted Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of terrorism
– Financial Action Task Force Recommendations on terrorist financing
"The purpose: Increase and align the tools available to national authorities to prevent terror attacks, and by making these acts punishable throughout the European Union, assist cooperation between national authorities. Background brief here on the phenomenom of foreign fighters."
