All measures to encroach on our freedoms are currently justified with the argument that they promote citizens' security.

Marking yesterday's 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, European Liberals and Democrats doubt this is justified and have launched a campaign highlighting the value of civil liberties and raising awareness about possible infringements of fundamental rights such as the freedom of speech, the right to privacy or the right to transparent lawmaking. You will find more information about the campaign "Making the case for a proper balance between security and liberty" on www.alde.eu/civil-liberties.

Initiator of the campaign Alexander Alvaro (FDP, Germany), ALDE-coordinator on Civil Liberties, explains: "Governments are collecting more and more data from its citizens. They argue that it is necessary in the fight against terrorism but often the collected data are used for all sorts of purposes which are not remotely related to terrorism. Legal safeguards are not in place which makes citizens very vulnerable vis-à-vis an ever more powerful government.

As Liberals and Democrats in Europe we believe that security is the guardian of liberty. With this campaign we want to make European citizens aware of the dangers of governments behaving like Big Brother. It took a long time before people won their freedom over governments in western societies. We should not allow administrations, with the argument of fighting terrorists, to interfere disproportionately in people's lives. Europeans have the right to be free."
 

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For more information, please contact:
Neil Corlett: +32-2-284 20 77 or +32-478-78 22 84
e-mail: neil.corlett@europarl.europa.eu
Jeroen Reijnen: +32-2-283 25 18 or +32-473-39 47 10
 Web: http://www.alde.eu