PREVENCIÓN Y LIBERTAD. SOBRE EL ORDEN DE LA LIBERTAD

Abstract

This article deals with the discussion about the conflict between security and freedom, and, more specifically, between police prevention and the rights of citizens. The author goes beyond the mere assertion that there is a relation of tension between those two poles, and tries to set out the elements that are absolutely inalienable if we do not want to abandon the rule of law. He analyses critically, for this purpose, some leading decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court, with reference to the set of norms of the European Union. His conclusion is that the State intervention in the private sphere of citizens must be subject to unbreakable limits, even in respect to the preventive control of risks stemming from terrorism.