EU justice and interior ministers today agreed on closer cooperation to prevent street riots at European summits, as well as "dialogue" with protest organizers.
Meeting in Brussels, they stopped short of forming a single European clearing house on information relating to "troublemakers" - a catch-all term that Belgian Interior Minister Antoine Duquesne was hard-pressed to define.
Instead the ministers agreed to set up, in each of their countries, "permanent national contact points" to collect, analyze and exchange what a statement called "pertinent information."
They also proposed using "all existing legal means" to prevent "persons notorious for disturbing public order" from crossing otherwise wide-open intra-European borders, even if that means joint border patrols.
In addition, they called for "constructive dialogue" with organizers of mass protests which are timed to coincide with EU meetings - even if those protests might specifically be aimed at condemning the EU.
"The political message is very clear," Mr Duquesne told reporters after the afternoon meeting. "We want to protect the right of those who dissent, as long as they do so within the rule of law."
Nowhere in their statement did the ministers refer to police capabilities to deal with demonstrations that turn ugly, or the responsibilty of riot police to act with restraint.
Today's meeting precedes a Group of Eight summit in Genoa in Italy this weekend where the authorities expect clashes with anti-globalization militants who have haunted every major international gathering since the failed World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle in November-December 1999.
AFP