As AI-powered biometric identification is adopted by police, national authorities should go beyond legal requirements to build trust within the public, a watchdog report has advised.
“To build public trust, law enforcement should publish the results of their fundamental rights impact assessments, going beyond what the AI Act requires,” said the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), an EU branch which keeps tabs on citizens’ freedoms, in Vienna on Wednesday (30 September).
After collecting data from seven EU countries (France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Ireland), the watchdog warned that several member states have yet to put necessary frameworks in place as they adopt automated systems to identify people.
Remote biometric identification is increasingly used to compare people’s profiles against databases or watch lists, but as the technology develops it could be rolled out for real-time use in public areas.
“With clear safeguards and independent oversight, remote biometric technologies can support policing without undermining the very freedoms it is meant to safeguard. Ultimately, it is about trust,” said FRA chief Sirpa Rautio.
Effective implementation of the EU AI Act requires clear national laws and consistent safeguards to ensure that AI-powered technologies are not used to identify people taking part in peaceful demonstrations or public gatherings, the FRA says.
The body warns that automated identification of live data may affect people’s private lives and interfere with their right to protection of personal data.
In its survey, 37 percent of people said they fear their data could be used for unauthorised purposes.
And 29 percent of people surveyed by FRA said they would be less willing to take part in peaceful demonstrations or protests if facial recognition was used.
The FRA is worried that surveillance tech powered by AI could be used in exactly those scenarios.
In principle, the EU’s AI Act adopted in 2024 bans real-time remote biometric identification systems in public spaces. But exemptions exist for law enforcement authorities using the technology for finding victims or missing persons, to prevent threats to life or physical safety, stop a terror attack, or to find criminal suspects.
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As the EU seeks budget cuts to break a stalemate in member states’ talks, women’s rights groups are on the chopping bloc, prompting advocates’ concern that the cause is fading from the common agenda.
Research published on Monday (28 September) by rights initiative MOTERIS showed a consistent loss of funding for feminist organisations across EU countries.
Some groups are also facing political conditions on the money they receive, for instance in Poland and Croatia, alongside groups reporting increasing dependance on unpaid work.
And the trajectory points toward decreased funding in the 2028-2034 EU multi-annual framework (MFF), which is currently being haggled in Brussels, making matters worse.
Feminist groups pointed toward AgoraEU as evidence of the trend – the proposed new single-funding stream is to merge grants for culture, media, equality and civil society under in the same MFF bracket, in what would make equally worthy causes and their defenders compete against one another for diluted resources.
And the ongoing cuts at national level meant that “EU funds are a crucial lifeline for many women’s rights groups where state funding is insufficient,” MOTERIS said.
Small, grassroots rights groups, many of whom MOTERIS represents, find it even harder to access grants due to heavy administrative requirements.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic and Lithuania served as examples of EU countries whose philanthropy was dependent on external top-ups, making them “more vulnerable to geopolitical shifts, such as the withdrawal of US funding.”
MOTERIS staged a protest to push for MFF support for women’s rights groups outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday (29 September), ahead of an MEPs’ debate on the topic.
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Devastated relatives who arrived from abroad visited the site of the collapsed building where four tourists and an elderly couple lost their lives on Friday morning, September 25, 2026. With tears in their eyes and broken voice they told media reporters that they came for the identification of the victims adding that the recognition was […]
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The spokesman of Greek Fire Service confirmed at 3 p.m. on Saturday, that all six bodies of missing persons have been retrieved from the rubble of the building that collapsed early Friday morning following a powerful explosion in Plaka, the historical and touristic center of Athens. The process of identification is due. At the time […]
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Search works for the missing people in the rubble of the building that collapsed after an explosion in historical center of Athens, Plaka continue until late Friday night. According to latest information, the number of the missing people has risen to six from five as initially thought. The number was officially announced by the Mayor […]
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More and more creepy details and medically unacceptable practices about the death of popular singer Giorgos Mazonakis emerge as more people have testified to authorities investigating the mysterious case that sent already two doctors in pre-trial custody. On Thursday, the fourth employee at the private practice in Kolonaki, high-end district of Athens, appeared before the […]
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Six hours after the explosion in a residential building in historic center of Athens, Plaka, on Friday morning, rescuers and authorities have not been able to locate three to five people under the debris of the building that collapsed. According to state broadcaster ERT, missing are: an elderly couple, permanent residents on the 2nd floor […]
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A powerful explosion in an old building in historical center of Athens, Plaka, occurred at 7:30 on Friday morning. Three people injured. Building collapsed. It is unknown whether the elderly couple living there managed to survive the disaster. Injured have been two women: a 50-year-old who was trapped under the debris and another one who […]
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From Denmark to Litochoro in western Macedonia, northern Greece, by bike: 52 days, 10 countries and 3,500 kilometers for the crazy dream of Marilena Karantini. The great journey of 34-year-old Marilena Karantinini who managed fearless this special challenge. Her thought was simple… “This year I will go from Denmark to Litochoro by bike” she said […]
The post From Denmark to Greece on a bike: A woman’s “crazy dream” appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.
Tragedy in Rhodes: A firefighter who participated in an operation to rescue tourists, died on Tuesday, after he fell from a relative high height. The 52-year-old man fell from a height and was fatally injured during an operation to provide assistance to two tourists, hikers, in an area near Sianna on the island of Rhodes. […]
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Α 50-year-old high school principal suffered a cardiac arrest outside the school in Ilioupoli suburb of eastern Athens during the heavy rain- and thunderstorm hitting the area on Tuesday. Initial reports suggest the cardiac arrest was caused by lightning. Passersby who saw the woman collapsing on the street outside the school immediately called for help […]
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An 8-year-old child was caught driving an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) widely known in Greece as “γουρούνα” (quad bike) at the port of the island of Paros on Saturday. The child was accompanied by a 33-year-old US national sitting on the back seat. According to some media, he was the child’s father. The vehicle had overturned, […]
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A 27-year-old man stabbed to death multiple times his former partner, a 25-year-old woman, and staged a robbery to cover up the murder. The victim was found in a pool of blood by a passerby at a gazebo at the end of a bicycle path in Igoumenitsa, western Greece, on Sunday night. He called the […]
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A 82-year-old man was reportedly beaten to death by a 76-year-old man during a argument over a sunbed in a popular organized beach in Vouliagmeni in Athens Riviera on Sunday. According to initial information, the 76-year-old who was accompanied with a 21-year-old woman argued with the victim over the sunbed. Quickly the situation went out […]
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Margaret Chant-Papandreou, second wife of former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, and women’s rights activist, has died at the age of 103, media reported on Friday. The American-born women’s rights advocate played a prominent role in efforts to strengthen the legal and social rights of women in Greece. Chant-Papandreou was the wife of former prime minister […]
The post Margarita Chant-Papandreou, women’s rights activist, dies at 103 appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.
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