THE CONTESTATION BETWEEN SECURITY AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN (MASS) SURVEILLANCE MEASURES: Opinions by political groups in the European Parliament 2019-2024

Sammanfattning

Mass surveillance technologies are increasingly integrated into security efforts worldwide. At the same time, non-governmental organizations, European Union (EU) institutions, and researchers are emphasising the need to assess the extent to which certain surveillance technologies infringes on fundamental rights in EU-contexts. The current literature lacks a coherent framework on diverging attitudes towards (mass) surveillance measures in the European Parliament (EP). Through a content analysis with qualitative and quantitative dimensions, this thesis aims to investigate if issue ownership and attitudes towards European integration are satisfactory explanatory factors for the analysis of to what extent and how political groups in the EP focus on fundamental rights versus security enhancement and support versus opposition towards EU-wide surveillance cooperation and legislation. The thesis analyses verbatim reports by the ECR, the EPP, the Greens/EFA, and the Left from four plenary debates concerning various surveillance measures in the latest election period. The results suggest that groups with a human rights issue ownership focus on issues linked to fundamental rights such as data protection, the right to privacy, and non-discrimination. Groups with a security issue ownership yields mixed results; the EPP follows the expectations by highlighting security concerns, whereas the ECR shows an overwhelming focus on fundamental rights. Attitudes towards European integration yields mixed results for all but one group. These results suggest the contextual dependency of opinions on (mass) surveillance measures for certain groups and the need for further research that includes additional perspectives such as the influence of public opinion and strategic framing.