Lib Dems fight secret European laws

2.22.00pm GMT Sat 28th Mar 2009

European Lib Dem members of the European parliament have long campaigned against unpublished annexes to European Union aviation security regulations. In a recent case brought with their support, the European Court of Justice has ruled that it cannot be right for 500 million European citizens to be told to obey laws that they cannot read for themselves.

The case concerned what items could be taken onto planes as hand baggage. An Austrian citizen, Gottfried Heinrich, was ordered to leave an aircraft at Vienna airport because his cabin baggage contained tennis rackets. No-one could show him where it was laid down that a tennis racket could be used as a weapon, but the airport staff judged that it fell within a banned category of "bludgeons". This list included "baseball clubs or similar instruments" but was too secret for the public to know about.

Mr Heinrich went in protest to the Austrian court, and the Liberal Democrats and their allies in the European Parliament supported him. When the matter was referred to the European Court of Justice, that court ruled that bans on items in planes can have no legal force if they are not published.

Said Lib Dem MEP for London, Sarah Ludford: "This decisive judgement is a victory for openness and democracy, and a slap in the face for the European Commission and the EU Governments. It sends a strong message that shortcuts with 'emergency' laws decided behind closed doors are not acceptable. Laws passed in secret are undemocratic. They should always be open to parliamentary democratic scrutiny and debate."